Once Upon a Radiant Time
by WishingDreamer5
Summary: Semi-connected one-shot series about the lives of all famous residents of Radiant Garden, before and after the fall of the world. First crushes, fights, pranks, unexpected tantrums... Let's face it; it's never really boring with a chaos causing ninja around. RinoaxLeonxYuffie, CloudxAerith.
1. A Ninja Was Born

**A/N: I don't own anything of KH, except for this story-idea. This story takes place 8 years before the events of KH BBS and 9 years before the events of KH1. Squall is nine years old, Cloud and Aerith are six and Yuffie's one week old. Yay, I finally got over a 1000 hits! I'm happy now. :D**

**WARNING: This one-shot may contain some BBS spoilers about who's living in Radiant Garden. So if you haven't spoilered yourself yet, you could go to chapter 2. You won't miss any important details.**

******Oh, and the cover for this story was drawn by the lovely ~KeepCalmForKpop (on dA). Please don't use the picture without her permission!**

**Enjoy reading! :)**

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_~ "Aren't you flattered? You're probably the first guy to whom she has smiled, not counting her father, of course, because that doesn't count." ~_

* * *

Today was quite an exciting day for some residents of the neat and beautiful Radiant Garden, because exactly one week ago a new baby was born. It was a girl and Mr. and Mrs. Kisaragi had decided to give her the name Yuffie.

Today she would get her first visit from people who weren't family of her. Squall was one of them, along with his thirteen year old sister Ellone, his best friend Cloud and a girl Cloud knew: Aerith. She could be called a friend of Squall, too. Maybe. He didn't mind having her around that much, because she respected how anti-social he could be.

This was all very special to them, because strangely enough there hadn't been a child born for six years or so. The last one that was born, was Aerith, a girl with emerald-colored eyes and long brown hair in a braid. Squall didn't remember that, which wasn't that strange, because he had only been three years old. Besides, he didn't know Aerith for that long, anyways. Cloud had been a few months old, so it was also impossible for him to recall that day.

Laguna, the most famous journalist of Radiant Garden and Squall's father, would bring them all to the Kisaragi's, because he knew them. Laguna had been friends with Mr. Kisaragi for years on end. Squall wore his neatest clothes today: a white, long-sleeved shirt with dark blue, vertically stripes that matched the color of his eyes perfectly, and new, black pants.

Ellone wore a red T-shirt with a black and white skirt and high heels (that just had to hurt, because you were standing on your toes for hours on end. Only looking at it made Squall cringe. He didn't get why girls wanted to be taller. It wasn't like they immediately looked any different, or stronger, or dominant.). Cloud wore jeans and a navy shirt with long sleeves. The name of a famous academy was written on his shirt, in white and yellow letters.

Aerith was, as always, dressed in pink. She wore a cute pink dress with white dots on it, that reached her knees. Instead of the red ribbon she normally had in her braid, she now wore a pink one so it matched her clothes.

She looked so incredibly sweet that Squall's teeth started to ache just by looking at her. He also knew that her behavior was just as sweet as she looked like today. Maybe even sweeter. That was why Cloud probably liked to play with her all the time.

It was true what they said about girls, though; they really _were_ strange. Aerith just proved that point with everything she did, although she wasn't as strange as some other girls he knew (Tifa for example punched walls for absolutely no reason, although she said that she only did it to look for secret rooms). At least she didn't like to gossip, unlike many girls, so that had to be a good thing, right?

* * *

Laguna rang the front door, looking patient from the outside, but the tapping of his foot gave him away. A smiling Mr. Kisaragi opened the door.

When he saw who it was, his grin became even wider, if that was possible. "Come in, come in! I thought you would never come," he said to Laguna, as they shook hands.

They followed him into the big living room. They saw that it was already pretty crowded in the living room. A bit too crowded. Squall estimated that there were about thirty visitors, including them.

He didn't like such crowded places so much, where all the adults talked at the same time and didn't listen to the other at all, as if what they said themselves was more important than what the other said.

What they were talking about was usually uninteresting, not to mention dull, even for someone who already was nine years. It usually was about politics, tax and other boring things he had no interest in. Even the anecdotes they told weren't funny.

He was quite sure he would never be so boring and weird when he was a grown-up. At least, that was what he was hoping for, because you never know in advance how much you would be brainwashed in the future. It was a small blessing that his father wasn't like that, but his clumsiness cost him some points.

The brunet boy knew all the children that were present in the room. Tifa was a fierce girl with long black hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He sometimes confused her with another girl - who also had to be here somewhere, - simply because they looked so alike from the outside. Lea, a red-haired boy was one and a half year younger than Squall and his friend Isa, who had light blue hair was just half a year younger than him. They were known as the troublemakers of Radiant Garden. The other children weren't that known, so he didn't bother to look at them.

Out of the grown-ups, he saw the guards of Ansem the Wise and the wise man himself, surrounded by many people who admired him. He even knew all their names, Braig, Dilan, Even, Elaeus. Maybe someday he would become a guard of Ansem, too. His father had promised to give him a Gunblade for his fifteenth birthday, so he had only six years to go.

Merlin the Great Wizard - although he didn't seem to be all that great as he looked like - was also invited, as was the rich Mr. Scrooge McDuck - his seasalt ice cream was delicious! - and his three nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie and a few people whose names he didn't remember now, but they were vaguely familiar to him.

They all got a piece of pink colored cake on a plate, - _yay for Aerith_, he thought sarcastically - with a drink from an extremely happy Mrs. Kisaragi, who also couldn't stop smiling just like her husband. It was their first child after all. That was always something special.

Squall now had the time to give everything in the room a good look, even though he came here quite often with his father to visit them. Eying the decoration of the room, he couldn't help but notice once again that Mr. and Mrs. Kisaragi really seemed to love the colors red and white.

The whole room was filled with balloons and pink and white streamers, that showed that their parents celebrated the birth of their newborn child. These decorations were everywhere: on the walls, on the ceiling, and even on the white cot that they had put in the living room, so they could put the baby in there later, so she could be admired by everyone in the room. After all, that was the whole plan, right?

"You know, it's quite strange, after six years I'm no longer the youngest resident of Radiant Garden," said Aerith to Cloud, who was listening to every word she said, almost as if he actually found it interesting.

"I can imagine that very well," Cloud said, nodding.

"You immediately become a lot less important. And I guess I'll have to pay for all the sea salt ice-creams I get from now on. After all, second youngest doesn't sound as cool as the youngest, right?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, you're right about that one."

Squall rolled his eyes, a habit he had received since Cloud and Aerith had met, but fortunately they didn't see it, otherwise he would have to explain a lot and he certainly wasn't in the mood for that. But then again, he never was in a good mood.

Cloud had become a spieler. He almost looked like a girl sometimes. He chatted so much and Squall didn't actually find it much fun. It just went on and on and on, until he kindly asked had to ask him to shut up, because he had given him a massive headache. The only good thing about that was that Cloud filled in all the silence, so he didn't have to talk too much.

Squall on the other hand, was more of a quiet and shy boy. Sometimes he wondered, why couldn't everyone else be like him? He totally forgot about his reverie, as soon as Mrs. Kisaragi came into the living room. In her arms she held a small, light blue colored bundle. It was a blanket.

_That's the baby,_ he thought, realizing.

He placed his now empty plate and drinking glass on the table and walked to the cradle, so that he could be the first one there without the other kids blocking his sight with their heads and he could actually catch a glimpse of the baby. It was something he suddenly wanted so badly, though he couldn't really explain why. Perhaps it was just curiosity. The other children followed Squall's example soon after, noticing the sudden change of scene, too.

Squall was more than satisfied when he saw that he stood at the front. He possibly couldn't get any closer to the cradle. On his left side sat a boy with bright red, spiky hair and emerald green eyes, which he recognized as Lea. To his right was Lea's best friend, called Isa. He had longer, bluish-silver hair and deep blue eyes.

The excitement could be read on all the children's faces. They all made room for a smiling Mrs. Kisaragi, so she could put the baby in the crib. When that happened, the kids curiously bent forward to get a better look of the little baby.

A little head appeared on top of the sky blue blanket. The head looked perfect, as though it was of an angel's. Her pinkish skin looked even softer than a cushion. They could already see that she had some black hair on her head. Her black lashes framed her eyes like tiny, soft feathers. She had her dark, chocolate-brown eyes open and looked around surprised, while she tried to recognize something. With her hands she had a firm hold of the blue blanket, as if she was afraid to fall if she let go of it. She looked so breakable. Some people gasped, amazed by what they saw.

"Aaaaaww," said a chorus of girls, which was to be expected.

"Look at the baby's hands. They're so _small_!" the girl who really looked a lot like Tifa cried, squealing like some crazy fangirl.

What was her name again? Rhin... Rinoa?

"Well, it would be kinda wrong, not to mention scary, if she had hands the size or her father's already, now don't you think?" Isa replied somewhat coolly.

The girl just ignored him and continued quite cheerfully, "I just can't imagine that I've ever been so small. It's amazing! But those small nails save lots of nail polish."

Some adults who heard that, almost died of laughter. Even Elaeus, the guard who never seemed to laugh, had a trace of a tiny smile on his hardened face.

"What? It's true!" she exclaimed, while giggling and looking around.

"I wish she was my sister," said Aerith, sighing.

"Yeah, me too!" Rinoa and Tifa uttered excitedly, agreeing simultaneously.

Suddenly, the baby made eye contact with Squall and laughed shortly, so that her toothless mouth was visible for everyone.

"Hey, she smiled at me!" Lea shouted suddenly, surprised, but also delighted by it.

"Nu-huh. She smiled at me, obviously," Isa countered, shaking his head at his best friend.

That was the start of round one hundred and something in their bickering.

"No, she didn't!" Lea shouted loudly.

"Yes, she did."

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is," Isa said with a calm expression on his face, although he was far from calm at that moment.

"NO, IT'S NOT, OKAY!"

Squall was getting a terribly headache of those two, especially because he stood in between them and they were practically shouting in his ear. He looked up from Yuffie, who actually clearly had smiled at Squall only and caught Aerith staring at him, a small smile tugging at her soft pinkish lips.

"What?" he said flatly.

"Aren't you flattered? You're probably the first guy to whom she has smiled, not counting her father, of course, because that just doesn't count."

Of course he was flattered, but she didn't have to know that.

He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could and looked at the tiny, perfect little angel that was surrounded by a sea of blue blanket. "Not really. A baby like her only sees a balloon instead of a human's face. So she only likes me, because she thinks I'm a balloon with nice colors, not because I look great today, or something. I don't know why I would be proud or flattered at that," he said with a monotone voice.

Laguna who had heard his son, started to laugh. "Squall, you're reading too many informative books. It's almost scary, 'cause I didn't know this much when I was nine," Squall's father exclaimed.

_...Obviously_, his son thought, sarcastically.

Baby Yuffie let go of the blanket and started moving around with her little fists. She yawned in a way that made it look as if she was exhausted and hadn't slept for ages, her mouth forming a small, but adorable "o," making the choir of girls sing "Aaaaaww," at the same time again.

Squall almost wanted to join the choir, but he managed to control himself right in time. He had to admit that he hadn't thought it was possible for such a small creature to steal his heart already by only smiling at him, but she was just so incredibly sweet and cute and well, even beautiful (didn't that go too far?), even though it was just a baby.

He fervently hoped that she wouldn't get as annoying and hyper as Isa and Lea when she had grown up. That would be such a sin, not to say frustrating. From that moment on, he swore he would do everything to protect her from any harm, always and everywhere. He felt responsible for her safety, because she was just so small. She depended on him and obviously couldn't take care of herself. So he would do it for her, until she had grown up.

He slowly reached up to one of her hands and touched it lightly with the tip of his pinky. Her skin was softer than anything he had touched before. Yuffie held his pinky with her small hand, as if she didn't want to let go of him and Squall realized that he was feeling warm and happy with what she was doing.

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**A/N: So, this was the first chapter of this series. What do you think of it? Reviews are more than appreciated.**

**Next chapter: Sweet little Yuffie gives her first hug in public... to a guy. His best friend gets jealous...**


	2. Sneak attack!

**A/N: I don't own anything of KH, except for this story-idea. This story takes place 7.5 years before the events of KH1. Squall is ten and a half years old, Cloud's seven and a half and Yuffie's one and a half year old. Or somewhere near that. I wrote this one, because I was really in the mood of writing something like that. Enjoy reading! :)**

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_~ Yes. I mean, no! The 'yes' was directed toward the first question. And shut up. Stop analyzing every single thing I'm thinking. The question is... Why am I even talking to myself... in my head? This doesn't make any sense at all. It's got to be because I've been around Cloud and my dad too much. I'm starting to behave like those two. ~_

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Squall and Cloud were both sitting on the comfortable red sofa in the red and white colored living room of the Kisaragi's. Squall had to pick up some important documents for his father from his work and because Squall and Cloud wanted to play outside after that, the blonde boy had offered to come along with him and kept him company.

Laguna had insisted that his son did this job for him, because he was too afraid he would lose the papers if he went after it himself. Laguna was in fact quite... _notorious_ for his clumsy nature, to say the least. Everyone thought it was pretty funny, except for Squall, who felt that his father didn't only make a notorious clown out of himself with his antics, but out of the rest of his family as well.

He found his father a very nice and funny man, don't get him wrong, but his... clumsiness could be annoying sometimes. Luckily, the Kisaragi's lived near Squall, so they wouldn't have to spend a full day on the job.

Mr. Kisaragi held the little and cute, one and a half year old Yuffie in his arms. She was busy with contently sucking her thumb, and staring curiously and inquisitively to the two children that had decided to visit them, probably realizing that they were one of her, for they weren't as tall as the man she called "Dada" all the time, by the lack of a better word.

She was dressed in a cute, white and pink dress - Squall and Cloud couldn't help but wonder if that had been a present of Aerith's - and held a small teddy bear in her free hand. Mrs. Kisaragi was not at home at the time, because she was shopping, again. Apparently, a woman couldn't shop enough.

"I've got them in my office. I'll go and get them right away, okay?" Mr. Kisaragi said.

Squall nodded briefly. "That's fine," he replied.

Mr. Yuffie Kisaragi walked out of the room with his daughter in his arms. Yuffie looked over his shoulder and waved briefly to Cloud and Squall. Cloud waved cheerfully back, - Squall didn't bother to do so, because he simply wasn't in the mood for it and just thought it was too silly - so Yuffie crowed with sheer delight.

Her father chuckled at her reaction. "Let's pretend I didn't hear that. My little Princess, aren't you a bit too young to want attention from boys?"

"Couw!" Yuffie replied, defending himself and now pointing at Cloud.

Her father started to laugh. Cloud smiled, shaking his head slightly. That was, until he noticed his best friend staring at him in a rather strange way. By the looks of it, he didn't seem too pleased. Cloud started to wonder what had gone through his head now.

"What?" he said innocently, but Squall knew his best friend too long to buy it.

"Flirting with a one year old. Seriously, what the hell? I honestly didn't think you could sink this low, Strife. Guess I was wrong again."

He was being serious, because he never called him 'Strife' in normal situations. And yes, Squall actually _did _joke around... sometimes. At those times, he would forget all the times that he had thought that the brunette didn't have a heart, just like every other human.

"I'm not flirting. I'm just... being polite by waving back at her, that's all," Cloud said defensively.

Squall snorted incredulously. "Last time I checked, smartass, babies didn't care for civility," he retorted.

"Like you can remember. When was the last time you've been one year old? Let's see... Oh right, nine years ago! I know babies do care for civility."

"Sure, and I'm Ansem the Wise's father," he retorted.

As soon as he had said that, they heard a short laugher that was accompanied by the steady rumbling that came from upstairs. Cloud blushed a bit, as he realized that Yuffie's father had probably heard their bickering, even from upstairs. Great. He got up to get a better look of Yuffie's baby photos that were on the walls, in dainty frames, his hands stuck in his pockets.

He saw that on each photo she posed differently, and was holding onto other attributes. Things like a pink ball, a stroller or a rocking horse. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Kisaragi came back downstairs again with little Yuffie in one arm and a stack of papers in his other hand. He decided to sit on the sofa, next to Squall.

"Okay, I'll go through each of them with you, so you know which one you should show him first, otherwise his boss will bite his head off," he said, winking.

Once again, Squall nodded briefly. "Okay."

Last time he had checked, his father's boss wasn't a cannibal, but he decided to say nothing about it. Stating out the obvious wouldn't help them get any further, anyway. Meanwhile, Yuffie let herself fall slowly and deftly out of her father's lap, who let her go gently. His attention was more on Squall and the important papers in his hands than on his beloved daughter, who, judging from that mischievous look in her dark, chocolate-colored eyes, was clearly planning something.

When she was standing on the ground on both feet, she started staring at Cloud again, who sat on his haunches to pick up a few items that had fallen out of his pockets, not paying any attention to the other people who were in the living room with him. Why should he? They didn't do it, either.

"Couw," Yuffie chirped again, sounding even more cheerful this time and with a higher voice than normal.

The joy in her voice was so overwhelming and surprising that Cloud couldn't help but glance up at her in wonder, his overly blue eyes locking with her chocolate brown ones almost instantly. Yuffie let her teddy bear fall out of her hands as she started to run toward Cloud - who hadn't gotten up yet - on her short legs, but with an amazing speed for her a girl her age.

"Uh..." he began hesitantly, getting the attention of the rest of the people that were in the house.

Mr. Kisaragi and Squall looked up from their reading, wondering why Cloud suddenly wasn't able to speak in normal sentences. They had looked up from their work just in time to see Yuffie launch forward like a small canon ball and land with a squeal in the safety of Cloud's arms.

"Whoa!" was his shaky and almost breathless response.

He had lost his balance by the sudden weight that was thrown against him all of a sudden. He fell backwards on the ground onto his back with Yuffie still in his arms, who was laughing again. She had knocked all the air out of him in one movement, but he didn't seem to mind it one bit. She put her little hand against his warm cheek.

With her other hand she touched the tip of one of the spikes on his head. She quickly pulled her hand away, as if she had just had an electric shock, her dark eyes becoming the size of saucers, while she said, "Oooh!"

Cloud gave her a funny look in return, wondering what that had to mean.

Mr. Kisaragi spontaneously burst into laughter at the sight of his daughter's antics, thinking that it was too bad that his wife wasn't here at the moment to see this. "I'm so sorry Cloud, but I think she's gotten quite fond of you and not only of your hair."

Cloud tried to sit up and barely succeeded. "Yeah, I think so, too. Well, it's either that, or she really likes to attack her visitors and protect her territory, or something. Maybe it's a family thing?" noted Cloud, scratching the back of his head rather sheepishly.

Mr. Kisaragi started to laugh heartily. "Who knows? But I do know that you're the first guy to get a hug from her."

"Really?" Cloud asked excitedly.

His grin widened instantly, but for some unknown reason, Squall suddenly looked even more irritated than usual. And that sure was kind of weird. Cloud didn't even know it was possible, but apparently, miracles still could happen.

"Yes," replied Mr. Kisaragi with a wink (the guy sure winked a lot today), "that just has to mean you're quite special for her. Hmm, come to think of it, I guess now should be the time to act like a father and stop her. I mean, bone crushing hugs at this age? What should we expect for the future then?" He shook his head at it.

"Mr. Kisaragi, thanks for the documents. We've got to go, before my dad calls the police out of anxiety," said Squall solemnly, albeit through clenched teeth.

Mr. Kisaragi nodded. The seriousness in which this boy talked, sometimes took him off guard. It was hard to say that Squall was Laguna's son, for Laguna didn't seem to know what being serious meant.

"Okay. Please, visit more often. Looks like Yuffie would really appreciate that."

As if on cue, his only daughter cried victoriously, "Ahaaah!"

"Yeah," Squall said simply, getting up from his seat to head to the front door.

He was gone and didn't look over his shoulder to see if Cloud followed suit, simply because he knew he would do that anyway... eventually.

"Bye," Cloud said quickly, while he scrambled to his feet and handed an extremely happy Yuffie to Mr. Kisaragi.

"Shouw!" Yuffie said, waving at him.

Apparently, all of her words had an "ou" sound in it. He shrugged and waved back, then turned to leave. Meanwhile, Squall slammed the door shut. He simply couldn't believe it! The little girl had just chosen Cloud over him! How was that even possible? Was it the hair? Did she prefer blond over brown hair? Why on earth did she like Cloud more? And why in Gaia's name did he even care about that fact?

_Probably because you wanted to be in Cloud's place, _he thought bitterly. Then he angrily shook his head. _No wait, that's not true. I just don't want to lose from a person like Cloud. I mean, come on! We're talking about Cloud here! I'm sure he won't stop talking about it from now on, _a poisonous voice in his head whispered mockingly.

The sudden indescribably feeling really spread like poison through the rest of his body via his veins, paralyzing the rational side he had had before. And the battle against himself inside his head had started. He may look all tough, calm and collected on the outside, but from the inside there was a storm going through his head. Or in this case, a Squall. Haha. He frowned slightly.

_Are you sure? Isn't it just jealousy you're dealing with?_

_Yes. I mean, no! The 'yes' was directed toward the first question. And shut up. Stop analizing every single thing I'm thinking. The question is... Why am I even talking to myself... in my head? This doesn't make any sense at all. It's got to be because I've been around Cloud and my dad too much. I'm starting to behave like those two._

_Oh, you know what they say. It's okay when you have voices in your head, as long as you don't lose an argument with yourself._

_Which is what I just did... Or did I? Guh! This is confusing. And annoying. Not to mention strange._

_Hey, you're the one who's thinking all this. You can stop me if you want. The question is: do you want me to stop nagging at you?_

His frown grew deeper. Since when did his mind say such strange things?

_..._

His silent battling stopped the instant he heard Cloud's voice calling for him somewhere in the distant, in the real world that is, not in his head.

_Saved by our beloved Cloud._

"Hey Squall! Wait up!"

Squall didn't do as he was asked. Instead, he even quickened his pace, hoping to get rid of him this way, but knowing that hope was far from reality sometimes. Like now, because unfortunately for him, Cloud caught up with him within seconds. He figured that he should've run when he still had had the chance. It was too late now.

"Squall, you-"

"_Not now_, Strife," he said sharply.

Well, more like snarling it, but Cloud wasn't impressed by that. "But you forgot the documents!"

Squall gave him a hammering look that could've turned all the flowers in Radiant Garden into ash if he'd wanted that. Then, he snatched the papers away from him. Cloud blinked a couple of times at his harshness, but soon forgot about it when his mind set on something else. Or rather; someone else.

"She's really cute, huh?" Cloud noted.

Squall knew immediately who he was talking about and his grip on the pieces of paper tightened, his knuckles becoming white from it. The faint rustling and crumpling of the papers sounded like a whisper getting lost in the wind.

"Hmph."

"Just like a little sweet doll, or something. Not that I like dolls, 'cause, well, I'm a guy."

Squall almost wanted to mutter a quick, 'If you say so,' but was able to control himself right in time.

"I can't believe she hugged me first out of all the guys in this world! I feel so..."

"Special?" Squall asked sarcastically.

He tried to hide his jealousy by playing it cool. It always worked... Not that he was jealous, of course. Nah.

"Yeah, that too, but I actually wanted to say 'lucky.'"

Squall snorted, giving him a sidelong glance. "No kidding."

"Huh?"

Cloud eyed his best friend somewhat suspiciously, finally noticing his pretty odd behavior. His blond eyebrows almost disappeared under his hair. Well, they would've disappeared if he'd had Squall's hair style.

"What's wrong with _you_?" he asked, bewildered.

"There's _nothing_ wrong with me. You on the other side..."

Squall had muttered the second sentence, but his friend still had heard it.

"What about me?" he wanted to know.

"You sound like a lovestruck _girl_."

"What? Are not!" Cloud cried, looking at him as if Squall had just thrown a punch at his face.

"Are too."

"Are not!" Cloud said once again.

Squall sighed at their childish bickering. "I'm not gonna start a fight with you about_ that_..." and as a quick afterthought he added, "Are too, though."

Cloud rolled his eyes and they continued walking, in complete silence now, both consumed by their own thoughts. They would stay like that, until they'd reach Squall's house and Laguna would open the door for them.

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**A/N: So, what do you think of it? Good? Horrible? Mwah? Reviews mean the world to me. ;) **

**I admit that this one got a little bit out of hand after Squall left the house. But I thought Squall could get away with it this time, since he's still a child. This is the product of reading too many fanfictions and not having homework for a while (not that I'm complaining, though). And this was actually based on an event that really happened (hey, that's a first). It inspired me to write this chapter... But I kept writing "Leon" instead of "Squall." It was getting annoying. Thank heavens Cloud only has one name throughout his existence in the KH worlds.**

**Next chapter: Sweet little Yuffie meets Squall in the park and insists on playing a game with him with her pink ball. How will Squall react, being his grumpy self and all?**


	3. Persistent

**A/N: I know, it's been for ages since I uploaded anything for this story, but I'm plan on finishing it soon enough. I hope I didn't lose readers this way. A special thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted and favorited this so far. And just a quick reminder, since this chapter is a continuation of the previous one, Squall's ten and a half years old, Yuffie one and a half and Cloud seven and a half. Enjoy. ;)**

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_~ __Look at me_, he thought, shaking his head. _I'm talking to a baby... and imagining that she's actually talking back! I'm must be losing it..._ ~

* * *

A lonely figure, clad in black leather pants and ditto jacket, wandered around the town in the beautiful place called Radiant Garden. The weather was nice, crisp, but not too cold. However, he knew that this indicated that the warm summer days would soon be ending, being replaced by cool, bleak autumn afternoons.

A few days had passed after Squall's one-sided fight with his best friend Cloud Strife. Their argument had been about none other than Yuffie Kisaragi. From that day on, Squall had done everything he possibly could to avoid walking into Cloud. So far, he was, surprisingly enough, doing great. (That was quite strange, because Cloud was one of those people that you always bumped into when you didn't want to at all.) Admittedly, he had had to use his bedroom window to get out of his house without being seen by the blonde, but in the end, it was all worth it... probably... hopefully...

"Whatever," the brunette boy muttered under his breath, running a gloved hand through his soft, silky smooth locks.

He headed straight for the park, under the impression that he would be left alone there. It seemed that he was right about that one... until a plaything, a ball rolled his way from out of nowhere and stopped right at his feet. Squall, who had sat down on an empty bench, lifted a thin brow when he saw that Yuffie, who was probably the owner of the ball, stared at him questioningly. Squall sighed, before bending to roll the pink ball back to her. Pink, full of glitters and with pictures of princesses in bulbous gowns. This stupid ball couldn't look any girlier than that, he pondered. Meanwhile, Little Yuffie had rolled the ball back to him again, for the third time now.

Squall frowned, fully aware of how the child was watching him expectantly, waiting for him to roll it back to her just like the previous times. "I'm not going to roll it back to you this time. Go and find someone else to annoy," he told her, rather coldly, before turning away slightly to make his point clear.

He was certainly not in the mood for this nonsense and if she was smart, she would take the hint and leave him alone, baby or not. But then again, she was just a baby with little to no knowledge about people's thoughts and feelings. He doubted that she would understand anything.

Yuffie's big, chocolate brown eyes widened and she cried, indignantly "Da!"

"No, I'm not 'da-ing' it back to you. Why don't you go and play with _Cloud_? Last time you made it very clear that you like him much more than you like me, anyway."

"Daah!" she told him, angry now, as if she was actually saying, _"Don't you dare to speak to me in that tone of voice, mister!"_

_Look at me_, he thought, shaking his head. _I'm talking to a baby... and imagining that she's actually talking back! I'm must be losing it..._

He swiftly looked around to check if someone was watching him right now or not. Fortunately for him, that wasn't the case. As he continued looking around him, he spotted Mr. Kisaragi, Yuffie's father, sitting not too far from them. When their eyes met, brown vs. stormy blue, he smiled at Squall. The brunet boy nodded briefly as a greet, before turning his attention back to the little baby girl sitting in front of him.

"You'll have to come here yourself and take the ball, 'cause I'm not going to play this little game of yours with you."

He had barely said that, when Yuffie's face fell and tears started leaking from the corner of her eyes. When he saw that her lower lip was trembling, too, Squall started panicking. This hadn't been his intention!

"Okay, okay. I'll play with you. Here," he said, hastily, bending forward again to roll the pink glitter ball back to her. Anything to make her stop crying and look so heartbreakingly miserable. "Now, roll it back to me again."

Instantly, the little girl did as she was told, and suddenly, there was no trace of her ever being sad. Even those tears - Squall had seen them with his own eyes! - had disappeared mysteriously. Was he being fooled by a baby?

After a while of the ball being rolled back and forth between the two of them, Yuffie seemed to have grown bored. That didn't come as a surprise to the boy, since he had been bored as soon as they started doing this. She let the ball lie and started approaching Squall. Tapping on his bent knee with her hand, she looked up at him, a questioning look on her petite face.

"What?" Squall asked, frowning, fearing the worst.

He didn't know what she was trying to say, but he knew one thing; he wasn't going to like it.

Yuffie put her two hands in the air, indicating that she wanted Squall to pick her up so she could sit on his lap.

"_No way_," he replied, immediately looking away from her, before she would give him the almost-drowned-puppy look, _again_.

As expected, Yuffie didn't give up yet and walked to where she could look Squall in the eyes. To his surprise, he saw that her eyes were watering again, as if she was on the verge of tears.

This made him sigh. Oh, how he hated it that such a little child had so much power over him. It was incredibly and he felt completely helpless, as if she was the queen and he a flunkey.

"Fine. Come here." Careful as not to hurt her, he scooped her up and placed her on his lap. "There... happy?"

Yuffie squealed in pure delight, clapping her tiny hands several times as she smiled up at him, her dark eyes shimmering in joy. It was a sound and a sight that made the corner of Squall's mouth lift upward in the tiniest of smiles.

_I guess that's a yes. At least someone's happy here..._

Although deep in his heart, he knew he liked this, too. But that would stay a secret.

It wasn't long after that that the little baby fell asleep, still on his lap. He decided to bring her back to her parents and go home. Dinner was probably ready by now, anyway.

However, he would never forget what Mr. Kisaragi said to him that day; "Wow, I don't know what happened, but she really must like and trust you to fall asleep just like that. She never even likes to sit in a stranger's lap. I guess that she doesn't see you as a stranger, then."


	4. Spiky hero

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place ten years before the events of KH1. Yuffie is six years old and Cloud's twelve. Yuffie meets Cloud for the first time. Let's see if you can recognize more people from KH in this chapter.**

**Thanks: SecretAgent99, my beta reader, for her awesome work! ^-^**

* * *

_~ She wondered what kind of parents named their child 'Cloud.' What would be the name of the next person she would met? Sunnyday? ~_

* * *

It was a hot day in the beautiful city of Radiant Garden. The sun was often hidden behind the soft-looking, fluffy white clouds, though, almost as though it was playing Peek-A-Boo, or perhaps even Hide and Seek. Yuffie was playing outside with Kairi, her best friend. They were playing hide and seek, too, their "most favorite game," as they put it.

This time it was Kairi's turn to go and hide somewhere in the big city, while Yuffie tried her best to find her as soon as she could. They did this all over and over again and they still couldn't get enough of it, not even after hours of playing the very same game.

They both had to promise Kairi's grandmother that they would stay close to their house, so nothing serious could happen to them and even if it did, then she would be close enough to take measures immediately.

Currently, Yuffie was searching in the quieter area of Radiant Garden. The streets and alleys were much narrower here, but it didn't matter that much, for she was not afraid. She was someone who wanted to become a ninja as soon as her parents allowed her to. She wondered when that would finally happen. She shouldn't be afraid of such trivial and almost normal things as a narrow, dark and deserted alley, not even if it looked this creepy. She wasn't a child anymore, she had become a big girl!

"Kairi, are you here?" Yuffie asked with her high voice.

Obviously there was no answer (but she had to try it anyway, for you may never know), so Yuffie walked further into the dark alley. Her footsteps echoed through the alley. She had to admit that this was a pretty scary place in comparison with the rest of the city.

And why was it suddenly so dead quiet here? A shiver ran down her spine as she became aware of the silence. Ugh, this place was creepy! It gave that word a whole new meaning. Maybe she should sing a song in order to break the cold, all-pervading silence. Did anyone live here? Probably not. At least this way, she wouldn't bother anyone with her off-key singing. Not that she sang off-key. Nuh-huh!

Slowly and with lots of doubt, she began to sing the song "The Wheels of the Bus." It became louder and louder and she sounded more and more confident as she continued. She stopped singing when other thoughts popped up into her head.

Now that she thought about it, it really was a stupid song. It made no sense at all. Duh, of course the wheels of the bus go round and round. That was the intention, wasn't it? Was that not quite obvious? Jeez! Talk about common sense here. Which stupid idiot had invented those lyrics? It had to be a grown-up dude. And then that annoying music, it really was a disaster.

She noticed that it was a blind alley she was walking in. Oh, that was just great. She had done that walking and scaring herself all for nothing, because Kairi couldn't be here. She sighed wearily. Way to go, Yufs!

She turned back and saw that three big boys of fourteen, fifteen and sixteen years old were waiting for her. They were all grinning evilly. Yuffie swallowed. These guys clearly were up to no good. Their eyes were sparkling in a very strange, almost malicious way.

"Look who we have here. The spoiled and rich brat whose parents had given us a restraining order, because we would have gotten into their dear daughter's hair. Hmm, what shall we do with her now, boys?" asked the biggest and ugliest boy, who probably was the leader.

He also had the voice of an evil leader. He had bright blue eyes and short, bright blond hair, but a cap on his head hid his hair. A scar ran down his face and stopped right under one of his eyes. Yuffie wondered what those guys were talking about. Her parents hadn't told her anything about it.

"Uh, what exactly do you mean, Mister?" she asked with trembling voice.

The guys all started to laugh evilly.

"Now don't pretend not to know anything about it," the guy said again, now sounding a bit mad.

It was at moments like this that she felt very small and vulnerable. What would she be like against these ugly guys? It was three against one. Moreover, they were all much bigger than her and she was pretty sure that running under their legs couldn't be an option now. Not that she wanted to try it anyway.

"Oh, I know something. We should get all her Munny and shave off that beautiful long black hair. Her parents will love it for sure. Plus, in that case, we would really have gotten into their daughter's hair, as they had put it," the middle one of the group suggested.

He himself had silvery shoulder-length hair, icy blue eyes and a somewhat unctuous voice, which made her shiver once more.

"Yes, I think that's a good one. It fits our image, if you know what I mean," said the blonde-haired guy again and they all started to laugh.

Yuffie's dark eyes became as big as saucers from shock and disbelief. Were they being serious?

"Let's do it," said the smallest boy, who also had blond hair.

They walked slowly toward her, their grins never disappearing from their faces. Yuffie slowly stepped back, until she felt that her back was pressed against the cold brick wall. She was trapped. Trapped like a rat. That would cost her hair...or maybe even more.

"No, go away! Please! Leave me alone!" she cried out, scared.

Tears started to form in her eyes. She couldn't stop them, couldn't control them anymore. But the boys did not listen to her and slowly walked even closer, until a voice called them to stop.

"You've heard the girl. Now leave her alone!" a boy's voice said loud and clear.

The boys all turned at once to the direction of the sound. A boy of about twelve years stood there, all alone. He had blond spikes and his eyes were the bluest ones Yuffie had ever seen. He held a big, wooden sword in his hands. From the look on his face, everyone could tell that he wasn't making a joke. The boy with the silvery hair snorted contemptuously, as if he'd recognized him.

"Oh? And who will stop us?" the eldest asked.

"I will," was the simple answer.

"Hah! You? Sure. With which army?" the silver-hair guy asked mockingly, looking around as if expecting more people to show up.

"I don't need an army to stop cowards like you, _Sephiroth_. Three against one, eh? And it's against an innocent little girl, too? Feeling brave today? I bet you're all too scared to fight with someone your own size."

He had pronounced Sephiroth's name with a disgusted look on his first calm face.

"I would fight someone my own size with pleasure," said the eldest.

The three of them then rushed forwards together, to teach the brave confident boy with the big mouth a lesson he would never forget. The boy also rushed toward them with full speed. Yuffie watched them nervously, seeing how the handsome blond boy beat the three bad guys single-handedly, even though he took a couple of blows. After a few minutes the boys finally seemed to realize that they could not win from him this time.

"Come on, let's get going," the leader of the small group grumbled. The others followed their leader, who added hastily, "We're not done yet! You'll pay for this, Strife!"

"We'll see about that."

Once the bullies were gone, he went to Yuffie. Yuffie looked at him. She had once seen a picture of an angel in one of Aerith's books and she still remembered what he had looked like. Cloud actually looked exactly like that angel, with his blond hair, bright baby blue eyes and pale soft creamy skin. Only the earring didn't really fit this picture.

The boy - or maybe he really _was_ that very same angel - then kneeled down, so he could be on eyelevel with the little girl. "You okay?" he asked, frowning lightly.

Whoa, he looked only more handsome from this close. Yuffie forced herself with great difficulty to look into his mesmerizing eyes and replied, "Yeah, thanks! But I think that looks like it will become a black eye."

She pointed to his left eye.

He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Oh, that's nothing. It's really cool. It's just so annoying that I'll get more girls after me as soon as they notice the black eye."

He sighed deeply and went with his hand through his spiky hair.

"Excuse me?" Yuffie asked indignantly.

So he was a woman hater? That immediately made him much less cool.

"I have nothing against you, though. I was actually talking about the girls that are older than eleven. They're so stupid! The only thing they do is giggle like an idiot and gossip all day long. And what's with all the colors that they smear on their face, calling it make up? Incomprehensible. Okay, sometimes it looks okay, but most of the time it's just too much! But I have to admit that the skirts and high heels are kinda...nice, sometimes, I guess. It looks painful to me, though."

"Okay..."

As if she wanted to know what the guy thought of skirts! He really was strange. No, more like bizarre.

"So uh, what's your name?" he asked curiously.

"It's Yuffie."

"Hi Yuffie, I'm Cloud."

Yuffie looked surprised at him. "Cloud? As in those white soft puffy, fluffy, cottony things in the sky?"

Cloud smiled a little at that, being used to that kind of reaction. "Yes, that's exactly what it means."

"Haha. Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

Cloud stared at her for a moment, a rather confused look appearing on his angel-like face. "But it's true. My name _is_ Cloud."

She gave him a suspicious look for a moment, her chocolate-colored eyes boring into his electric blue ones, but then deflated. "Oh. Okay. If you say so."

She wondered what kind of parents named their child 'Cloud.' What would be the name of the next person she would met? Sunnyday?

"Yeah, I know. My parents are the one to blame here."

Yuffie giggled at that. Parents. She knew everything about them. Poor Cloud.

"Can I call you Cloudy?"

"Ehm...sure. I have no idea why you would want to do that, though."

Her mouth fell open, when she received his answer. She hadn't expected that.

She closed her mouth again, realizing that she must look stupid. "Thanks for saving me from those jerks! You did some pretty cool moves when you were fighting with them! Where did you learn that?"

He smiled a small smile, looking flattered. "Uh, thanks! I train often with Squall, one of my friends. Do you know him? His surname's Leonhart."

Yuffie shook her head. "Nope. Never heard of. Wish I could kick their butts the way you do, but I have a long way to go. I want to become a ninja!"

Cloud chuckled. A ninja. He should have seen that coming.

"Oh really? I wish you good luck then. It's pretty hard to become one, but-"

Yuffie interrupted him, suddenly shrieking, "You're injured!"

Cloud followed her gaze and looked at his hand. It was bleeding, but just a little. He hadn't noticed the wound himself so far, but now that she mentioned it, it really started stinging. He shrugged it off again, like it was nothing to worry about. For him, it really _was_ nothing.

"Oh, _that_. I'll be okay, don't worry. You on the other way, should be more careful. I can't imagine what could have happened, if I hadn't been just in time."

Yuffie swallowed.

He was right; she had almost lost her long, beautiful hair. "Well, then I guess you should hang around with me some more. You know, to protect me, until I've become a great ninja," she suggested. "I could use a little help."

As her own guardian.

Cloud nodded sternly. "Seems like a good idea to me."

Yuffie considered something and then quickly gave Cloud a kiss on his cheek.

The blond boy gave her a baffled look, his eyes widening in surprise. "Wha-"

"That was for saving me. Thank you!" She smiled sweetly.

Cloud's eyes then widened some more. "Oh no, you're one of them! One of those girls. Why is it always me?" he said, quasi-shocked and terrified.

He sighed wearily.

Yuffie laughed and started to run away from him, for she still had to find Kairi. "Bye Cloudie!" she waved.

He waved back, hesitantly at first. She didn't see how a small smile graced Cloud's lips, as he got up and also walked away. Some people here in Radiant Garden still managed to surprise him. He wondered what other surprises life would bring him.

* * *

**A/N: Phew, this chapter is done. Thanks for reading this! =) I Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ Let me know what you think of this one-shot. It was just another idea of mine to show that Cloud was different before he had left Hollow Bastion. Besides, he still was a kid here. I wanted to show you that people can change over the years. Aerith still likes him, because she knows how he was in his past and she still sees that into him. But that's just my vision.**

**Next chapter: Yuffie meets Squall Leonhart for the first time, a stoic swordsman...who likes ice cream?**


	5. Stormy ice cream

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place ten years before the events of KH1. Yuffie is six years old and Squall's fifteen. This random idea suddenly popped into my head and I had to write it down, so here it is. This is where Yuffie meets Squall for the first time.**

**Thanks: NinjaSheik and SecretAgent99, my beta reader, for her hard work.**

* * *

_~ "You know what's your problem, Aerith? You're thinking too much. Relax! Enjoy life, for a change. What can possibly go wrong?" ~_

* * *

Today was a beautiful, bright and warm day in a beautiful town that was called Radiant Garden. The sun was shining all day, the wind sang his beautiful song along with the many different birds, and the trees danced gently in the wind. It was hard not to smile just because the weather was so lovely. It was the perfect ice-cream weather.

Yuffie was outside with Aerith, her new nanny of twelve years old. They walked hand in hand through the clean, tidy and big streets of Radiant Garden to get some delicious ice-cream from the famous, rich and funny Mr. Scrooge MacDuck. The people of this great city all looked happy and cheerful, just like every other day, but today was the first day of summer, so that was just another reason to be happy.

Some farther away from the famous ice-cream store of the town, a tall, frowning brunet teenager of fifteen years old was leaning almost nonchalantly against a brick wall on the opposite of the shop, while he was staring at a far point in the distance, his overly blue eyes seeing nothing and everything at the same time.

"Hello, Squall," Aerith said kindly and she smiled, when she and Yuffie came past him.

The boy who was called Squall, tore his gaze away from the blue sky, but only for a short moment, so he could see who had called him. He watched the now twelve year old girl with the long brown braid. Her green emerald eyes were glistening brightly in the light of the sun.

His eyes traveled to the smaller girl with the long, silky black hair that hung loosely around her face. She was holding Aerith's hand tightly and she was looking curiously up at him with those big, chocolate brown eyes. Then he looked back to the elder girl again, the girl his best friend had a major crush on. Everyone knew that, except for Aerith herself... and Tifa. He nodded briefly at her as a sign of greeting and then turned his attention back to where he had first looked at. Aerith wanted to continue her trek to Mr. McDuck's ice cream shop, but the raven-haired girl decided to say something, causing her to halt.

"Hey Mister, didn't you hear her, or something? She said hi to you. You should say something back now. It's very impolite to ignore people, you know!" Yuffie crowed.

"Yuffie," Aerith whispered, warning her by squeezing her hand slightly, but she would have none of that.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, as if that comment made him laugh. He didn't look at the petite girl, though.

"Didn't your mommy and your daddy teach you any manners?" she began once again.

Aerith gasped for breath, softly but audibly.

Squall finally bothered to look sharply at Yuffie, as if she was bugging him, which, in fact, she was. "I don't have a 'mommy' anymore. She died before you were even born," he replied coolly.

_Before I was born, even. As for my 'daddy,' he's far too busy with his own oh so important job as a journalist to pay any attention to me anymore. As of lately, I even see Aerith more than I see him. I'm not complaining, though. Not that you would actually care, _he thought.

Yuffie noticed that he had a nice, but monotone voice. It sounded a bit forced, but it was still pleasant to the ears. If only he wouldn't look at her as if he wanted to burn holes in her face with his razor sharp eyes, then maybe he would be cooler.

"Oh...?"

Yuffie was clearly surprised. Everyone had parents, right? That was so obvious. How else could he be born? Artificial insinuation, or something? She had read it in one of Aerith's books, but she couldn't really remember the name of it.

"And what about your da-"

Apparently, Aerith decided that it was time to leave, because the next thing she did, was saying, "Sorry, she did not know. She didn't mean it in a mean way, or anything. I'm really sorry. Well, I guess we should go now. It was nice talking to you again. Take care. Bye."

"Hmph," Squall muttered something incoherently.

Aerith apparently didn't know how fast she should get away from him. It made her almost look as if she was afraid of him. Maybe that was true. Yuffie couldn't blame her, though. The guy had looked like he was about to eat them both alive.

She shivered involuntarily. _Canibalism...eeeeew..._

The little girl turned back to look at the boy again. When her eyes happened to meet that of Squall's, she turned quickly back again and blushed slightly. What a creepy guy was that! The townsfolk were getting stranger and stranger every day.

"Who _was_ that?" she asked immediately, as soon as she was sure that they were safe and out of earshot of the pretty scary teenager.

"Yuffie, you met him some weeks ago for the last time and you've known him for almost your whole life," Aerith pointed out.

Little Yuffie didn't seem to catch the amusement in her voice, though. "So? Maybe I totally forgot about him, because he isn't that important. One month is a long time, you know."

"I guess that's true. That was Squall Leonhart, a good friend of Cloud, remember? That was not very nice of you, Yuffie. I'm sure you've hurt him a lot with what you said to him. He always used to visit you when you were little and you seemed to like playing with him."

Yuffie totally disagreed with that point and she proved that to her, too. "Nah, impossible. I would never play games with such a... guy-person. And I'm sure I didn't do anything to hurt his feelings. I mean, look at him! He doesn't really look as if he ever heard of emotions, let alone feeling them. Do you really think that a rock has feelings? 'Cause as far as I know, they don't," she thought.

"You're wrong about that. Squall is a very sensitive boy, he's just not as social as others. But he is always standing for what's right, and for his friends."

"Yeah, just a pity he only has one friend: Cloudieboy."

"I don't think that's true. He's quite popular... especially by the girls here."

At that point, the younger girl snorted incredulously. Populair? By the girls? Him? Shyeah, right.

"You know what's your problem, Aerith? You're thinking too much. Relax! Enjoy life, for a change. What can possibly go wrong?"

Aerith didn't answer her question and she just shook her head, while a small smile appeared on her face. Yuffie just didn't get it; what did a lively and totally awesome guy like Cloud see in a grumpy guy like what-was-his-name-again? Well, maybe today just wasn't his day. That would explain why he still looked so grumpy. She decided to ask Aerith about it, for she seemed to know more about that strange guy she strangely enough couldn't remember.

"Say Aerith, is he always grumpy like that?"

Aerith knew immediately who she meant. "I...think so. Why?" Aerith asked, looking at Yuffie.

"Oh, just wondering."

In fact, he had only recently become like this. Ever since he got that gunblade of his for his birthday, Squall had changed. He was more serious and didn't seem to allow himself to tell jokes, or even laugh. It was a strange thing, and truth be told, Aerith was getting a bit worried. She had talked about him with Cloud, but he had reassured her that this would be over soon enough.

"When?" Aerith had asked.

"When he finally admits that he likes Rinoa," Cloud had replied.

Just too bad that Squall was oh so sure that he didn't like the raven-haired beauty.

_'Maybe Cloud and I can help those two get together. I'm sure Cloud would want to do that for his best friend, he's just so sweet!' _Aerith mused._ 'The question is, how...?'_

* * *

Once they arrived at the ice-cream store, little Yuffie no longer paid any more attention to the mysterious Squall. She now had only eye for the many ice cream flavors. So many choices and so little time. The teenager was watching Yuffie and her caretaker closely with his cool, steel blue eyes, though, as he stood almost as motionless as a statue on that very same spot against the wall.

"I want that flavor!" Yuffie exclaimed suddenly, with a high-pitched voice. She pointed to the bowl with chocolate ice cream.

"Okay. Then I'll take...vanilla," Aerith decided.

"That's five Munny, Miss," said Mr. MacDuck, the cheerful ice cream vendor, who seemed to be...a duck.

But then again, stranger things had happened in Radiant Garden before and Yuffie was pretty much used to them now, so she didn't ask anymore how it was possible that a duck could sell them delicious ice-cream, let alone talk with them.

"Here you are, Sir."

Aerith paid him the money she had gained from Yuffie's parents this morning.

"Thank you, miss."

Squall moved away from the wall and walked slowly toward them. He had a feeling that they were talking about him. Well, if he was there with them, then they would probably finally stop gossiping about him. He didn't know why he didn't want them to gossip about them, though. It had never bothered him before. Yuffie was the first one who noticed his presence.

"Hi there, Storm!" Yuffie cried, when he stood beside her.

Aerith winced, because she knew what was coming next.

"It's _Squall_," he said, emphasising the last word, while sounding slightly annoyed, again.

Honestly, how hard was it to remember a simple, six-lettering name, even if you were this young?

"Oh. Sorry, _Squall_. I'll try to remember your name... for the next time."

She winked. Squall rolled his steel blue eyes. Yuffie then looked up at him. She finally had the chance to give him a good look, without being watched by him. Man, he was tall! He was even taller than Cloud, but Cloud was more muscular.

His eyes were blue too, but it had another shade. It wasn't as beautiful as Cloud's bright blue eyes. His eyes were stormy, or steely blue, or blue like the deepest depths of the ocean. Well, it really depended on the light.

Cloud's eyes, however, were a clear baby blue. Or more like forget-me-not's. His eyes were hard to forget, indeed. Squall's brown hair was also slightly longer than Cloud's impressive spikes.

Squall noticed Yuffie's stare and looked down at her. "What are you looking at?" he snapped, although he was fully aware of what she was looking at.

"At you." Yuffie answered as a matter of factly. "Do you mind?"

Was he blind, or something? she wondered.

"Yes."

"I don't care," she said in a sing-song voice, with a big goofy smile plastered on her face.

Squall wasn't surprised in the least. Yuffie had to admit that this guy had...something. Something unusual. Something mysterious. Something that even Cloud didn't have. It was there, but she couldn't see it, nor touch it. She didn't know what it was, but she wanted to know more about him.

She also had to admit that he was quite handsome and muscular, just like Cloud. Maybe they had more in common than Yuffie had thought at first. Maybe that was why those two got along so good.

Her train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by Aerith. "Say Squall, could you keep an eye on Yuffie for me, please? It's only for a couple of minutes. It won't take too much of your time, I can promise you that. I forgot to buy two books for my mother. I'll be right back!"

What, was she really going to let _her_ stay with - with _him_? Was she nuts? That was something she had been wondering a lot lately. It was a fact, Aerith was strange.

"But what am I supposed to-" Squall started, bewildered.

He didn't even have the time to object, for Aerith was suddenly gone. Squall sighed frustrated, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and indexfinger. He felt a terrible headache coming. Now that was just great! What was he supposed to do with that strange child now? They didn't even know each other that well, despite the fact that he had been with her a lot when she had been younger.

"Here's your ice cream, Mr. Leonhart," the ice cream vendor suddenly said.

He almost jumped at it. "Thanks."

Squall took his ice cream and handed him the money for it.

He just wanted to take a bite from it, when Yuffie decided to ask him curiously, "What flavor do you have?"

Squall frowned, wondering why in Gaia's name the annoying little girl wanted to know that. _Honestly, what do you care?_

"Strawberry."

"Do you like that?"

Obviously.

He tried not to roll his eyes. "No, that's why I chose that flavor, because I hate it," he replied sarcastically.

"Huh? Then why- Oh! It was a joke, right? Haha, nice one, although the sarcastic jokes and such aren't really my cup of tea. Most of the time I don't even get them! Can you imagine that?"

"Are you always... talking this much?"

Because if she was, then he really started to feel bad for Aerith. On the other side, he had an idea that Aerith liked that, otherwise she wouldn't have become her baby sitter in the first place.

"Hey, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you," Yuffie cried offended.

"Well, I didn't ask for a conversation," he noted coolly.

She pouted. "No, but... I did!"

Squall rolled his eyes once again, but said nothing. He didn't even bother anymore to tell her what his thoughts were. Chances were that she didn't get it, anyway.

"Well, you could at least explain why you're always so grumpy," Yuffie tried again.

"I'm not grumpy, I'm just..." he paused to find the right word, "thoughtful."

Then that explained why he was gazing up at the sky, or staring at the horizon all the time. She had almost thought at this point that he was _halluciniating_, or something. Man, that was a hard word, but her daddy said it a lot to her.

"Yeah, that's what they all say," Yuffie muttered jokingly.

"Then don't believe it. I don't care."

Yuffie frowned. Then was there anything he _did_ care about? Probably not. This guy was giving her a head ache.

"Jeez, lighten up a bit! That was just a joke, you know!"

"Haha," he said dryly.

With that, the short conversation between them - if you could call it one - ended abruptly. Yuffie decided that she didn't like this Squall. He was too... dry and sarcastic for her tastes. So much that it even hurt when he said something mean to her.

Suddenly, Squall saw how a skateboarder came nearer and nearer, but he didn't look that dangerous, so the brunet teen decided to ignore him for the time being. Oh, did he hate skateboarders. The skateboarder didn't even stop when he almost knocked Yuffie over. That kind of irked him. He also grabbed the ice cream out of her hand and ignored her cries, while skating away.

"Hey! Get back here, you thief! How dare you stealing my ice cream? I paid for that! Well, actually I didn't, but my parents did, but you get the idea, so. HEY!" She gave up calling after him. "What a stupid guy. Is he deaf, or something?"

Squall was wondering why the child was talking so much to herself. He had heard that talking to yourself was the first sign of insanity. Maybe it was a good thing to stay far away from this child and her baby-sitter, even if the older one was the almost-girlfriend of his best friend. And even if she wasn't talking to herself, - besides, what did the skateboarder care where she had gotten the money from? - he would from now on stay away from her, for she was ignorant, like pink chewing gum that had the nerve to stick on your new shoes.

"Well, there goes my yummy ice cream."

She didn't look and sound as cheerful as she had been at first. Squall almost felt sorry for her. Keyword: almost. He thought about some sort of solution and then found one.

He put his ice cream in her small hands. "Here, take it."

Yuffie looked surprised up at him, clearly not knowing what he wanted now. Was it a joke, or something? The confusion was clearly written all over her face. He could even read it in her big eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't want it anymore. You can take it, I haven't taken a bite of it. I also happen to know the guy who took your ice cream. Trust me, I'll make sure he won't do such a thing again."

He didn't want the ice cream anymore? Then why did he buy it in the first place? Why was he acting so strange? She would worry about that later. First she wanted to know whether he was serious or not.

"Are you sure? About the ice cream, I mean."

He nodded. He hadn't come here to eat ice cream in the first place. It had just been a cover to find out if they had been talking about him or not. Too bad he hadn't found that out.

"Absolutely," he replied.

"Wow, thanks!"

"That's...fine."

Okay, so maybe he wasn't _that_ bad, she thought. He still was strange, though, but at least he wasn't... a duck, or coldhearted. Or a coldhearted duck, 'cause that would be even worse. She took the ice cream thankfully and started licking it - she didn't want to let him wait that long, just in case he would change his mind - just when Aerith showed up again. She had a plastic bag in her hand, in which probably were the two books she had mentioned earlier.

"Do you have the books?" Squall asked.

"Yes, thank you very much, Squall."

"No problem. I'm going."

He turned and started to walk away, because he didn't see the need to stay longer with them. Aerith was back, so he could leave the girl to her again.

"See you around?" Yuffie asked quickly.

It was a simple question, but she really hoped he would say yes.

He stopped and thought about it for a second. "...Maybe."

With that, he left the two girls alone and continued his own way, in search of the notorious skateboarder. Yuffie let him be, for she was satisfied with the answer. She was sure that he meant 'yes,' but didn't dare to say that in Aerith's presence. He probably was just shy, which was cute in some sort of way.

"Hey, is that your second ice cream?" Aerith asked surprised. "I thought you had taken chocolate first?"

"Not really. A skateboarder stole mine, so Squally gave his ice cream to me. Plus he kinda promised me to punish that stupid skateboarder. That's pretty sweet, huh? I think that proved that he's okay enough to hang around with."

Aerith laughed at Yuffie's peculiar logic. "I'm glad you're thinking about him that way. Now let's go back, before your parents get worried, okay?"

"Sure!" Yuffie cried enthousiastically.

She grabbed Aerith's free hand with her own free one and started to walk towards her home.

"Hey Aerith?"

"Yes, Yuffie?"

"Where exactly did this Squall live again?"

Nyuk nyuk nyuk. As soon as whe would know that, Squallie wouldn't have much privacy left. She grinned at that thought.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for taking the time to read this! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^**

**Let me know what you think of this one-shot. At least I had fun writing it, but I kept writing Leon all the time, instead of Squall, which was pretty annoying.**

**What to expect in the next chapter: The apocalypse. The night of the great attack, when the Heartless invade Radiant Garden and some people manage to escape.**


	6. The Apocalypse

**A/N: This is the longest chapter I've ever wrote for fanfiction and it took me quite a while to write it. I hope everyone's in character. Oh, and now you'll finally know what's behind those stack of boxes in the Vacant House...**

**Thanks: SecretAgent99, my beta reader.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy in any way. Wish I did, though.**

**Don't let the length of this chapter scare you, 'cause I usually write shorter chapters. Now on with the story! Enjoy reading!**

* * *

_~ "Those goddamn kids will be my death someday..." ~_

* * *

Damn it! It was in the paper again; the short list with names of everyone who was missing this week. He hated to read it, but he had to check if there were any friends or family of his missing. Every week it was the same old song. Every week the residents of Hollow Bastion read that list with bated breath, afraid to encounter familiar names. Afraid of the truth...

The days became darker and darker as more people disappeared. Every day everyone felt like they were closer to death. Every day a handful of people met the dark depths of obscurity. Nobody did anything about it. There was nothing they could do.

Things had changed since those black creatures had showed up. Everyone in Hollow Bastion had lived in fear lately and hell, they had all right to be scared! It was all because of those black creatures that could tear you apart with their sharp claws.

The rumors said that those creatures were commanded by a certain Mali... Mela...ficent... or fecent, or something like that. Cid had never heard of her. Well, whoever that Melaficent may be, she had destroyed lots of families. Nobody had ever seen her or her creatures though. Nobody who had survived their attack, that is. Perhaps the rumors of these creatures were a myth, invented and distributed by the city itself.

Cid read through the list, frowning. M.E. Atkins, R.J. Locke, T.V. Smith, C.D. Steel, M.Y. Watson...

Watson? Now just wait a friggin' minute, wasn't that the young man who lived opposite of him? He came here every day, and asked - no, practically begged - him whether he had some work for him.

"Do I look like I'm fucking old? Like I need some fucking help in my shop?" Cid snapped him off.

Then the young and disappointed man would walk away and Cid just knew he would come again tomorrow, since he did that every day.

The engineer took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. Poor guy, he wasn't such an asshole. He didn't deserve this. But then again, who did? He would have given him a job, IF he had had any customers who bought something from him.

Their motto was now: "Only watch and then get out." No wonder, the inhabitants had little money to buy food. Why in hell's name would they need any accessories?

Casting a look at his watch, he decided that it had been enough for today. He hadn't sold anything today - damn, what a surprise. He was exhausted, for he had worked on that Gummi Ship for hours. Not that he minded. He loved machines, maybe more than he loved women, for machines were easier to understand than women. He had been working on the ship for months now and the work was finished today, at last! He had to admit that the new airship was a beaut.

At last, he was ready now. Ready to leave this doomed place if those bastards would show up again - and something told him that they would - to destroy everything that was left. Fighting against them was useless, he knew that very well.

Still brooding about those black shadows, he closed his shop and went home.

* * *

The sound of yelling people woke him up. He opened his eyes and sat up, wondering what the hell was happening now. This wasn't a time to party. He glanced over to the clock. It was 1:19 am. Yet something seemed to be completely different and out of place that he could not quite put his finger on.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell's with this place and these people!" he mumbled, angrily. Didn't the residents know that some people were trying to sleep at this time?

He stretched and opened his eyes. Slowly, he rose up and walked to the window. The wooden floor felt very cold to the touch.

When he saw what was happening outside he cried, "Holy hell!"

That pretty much summed up the whole situation. Three colors were dominating; black, blue, and shades of purple. It was all black outside, but you couldn't really call it pitch dark. In the light of the lampposts he saw those black monsters for the first time. He grabbed his keys, a flamethrower and his custom-made spear and went outside.

Cid had expected to see screaming people, panicking and running away like maniacs, all in a different direction, not really knowing what they were doing. There was nobody in sight, though. Where was everyone?

He looked around. The streets were as quiet and deserted as five minutes ago. Normally he wouldn't have done much, but times had changed. Drastically.

A high shriek interrupted his thoughts. It came from very close. A door was thrown open right in front of him and a girl of thirteen years ran out of the burning building. She held the hand of a little girl with black hair. At last, signs of life. The two girls were followed by many shadows. Cid did not hesitate and attacked them with his flamethrower.

"Stand back," he said.

He didn't have to say that twice. Once he put on his flamethrower, the creatures were helpless against the fire. He smelled their strong burning smell. Only their ash was left. The wind took care of that.

He turned to the two girls and noticed their shocked expressions. Tears ran down the cheeks of the little girl. Her eyes were as big as saucers and her short black hair stood out everywhere. Her lower lip trembled and she was shivering violently, holding something tightly as if it was a precious treasure. She seemed to be in shock and mentally absent.

"They are everywhere, those monsters," said the older girl.

"What happened?" Cid demanded.

"I - I'm her babysitter. She was upstairs, sleeping, when I suddenly heard a fairly loud noise... I went to look a - and they were there. They were everywhere! I fled with her down. At that moment her parents came home. One of those shadows attacked them and... she saw how her parents... how those claws..."

She fell silent when her voice broke. The shock was so big, it took her at least fifteen seconds to compose herself.

"The Fuckers," Cid hissed.

Nobody deserved to see their parents die like that.

The girl made an (unapproved?) sound, which Cid did not seem to hear. "We must hurry, we don't have much time. Here, catch. "

He threw his keys to the elder girl, who caught it with her free hand and looked stunned at it. "What-" she began, but Cid interrupted immediately.

There was no time to lose.

"You know where my shop is?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied, nodding.

"The biggest key on this key ring is from the space opposite my shop. I want you to go to that space and take this kid with you. Wait there for me and I'll-"

"I can't! I need to go to my parents and Cloud. He's-"

"No, I'll do that. I know Cloud, he's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Or that was what he was hoping for.

"Do you promise you'll look for him?"

He looked at her for a moment. How could he ever say no to someone like her?

"Yes, yes, cross my heart. Now go, before more of them show up. It's late and we're all in danger. Remember this: never dwell on one spot. Those black creatures can easily absorb your odor and then they come to get you and I don't think I'll be there to save you this time from this shit."

She nodded.

"Oh, and take this." He handed her his flamethrower. "When those bastards show up, then you know what to do, right?"

She nodded once again. From the weird expression on her face he could tell that she'd rather not use it at all. He hoped she didn't have to.

"Okay. Good luck, Sir. Come on, Yufs."

She took her hand and walked away, in a quick pace. Their footsteps sounded ominous and echoed against the cold paving. Before she turned around the corner, she turned to look at Cid, but Cid was already gone.

The wind began to blow harder. This was worse than dodge ball. It seemed as though the wind wanted to rip his head off. Cid had to hurry. He was almost safe. He felt like something was watching him from behind a sheltered spot. The wind changed direction now. It didn't swing from his side anymore, but from the front.

He quickly turned his head sideways to the right and gasped for breath as he looked straight into those bright yellow eyes. Before he could do anything, the shadow shot forward, digging its claws in the flesh of his upper arm. He started to scream. The pain took his breath.

* * *

In the center of the city, something else was going on. Two boys stood motionless back to back, covering each other. One boy had spiky blond hair and a long sword which he held with both hands. The other boy had dark brown shoulder length hair and also a large sword like weapon. They were both still young. The blond one was thirteen and the other one fifteen, maybe sixteen.

They seemed to be waiting for something. Something important. Something that would change their whole life. That something did not disappoint them, for there appeared shadows all around them. Now they held their weapons even tighter. Their knuckles became white.

"Ready?" said the one with blond hair.

"Think we can handle this many?"

"As long as we don't have our hopes up, we can take anything..."

The brunette, who seemed to be the leader, snorted, adding, "...Whatever."

That seemed to be their secret sign to start an attack, because the next moment both of them rushed forward with a loud cry and started to slice through the shadows.

The calculating movements they made were amazing, but also frightening. And for a short while they didn't seem to be children anymore. They obviously knew what they were doing. They looked like experienced soldiers on that battlefield, being trained for years for situations like this. They gave each other backing and the fight didn't last long. They also seemed to keep a sort of game of who could kill the most monsters.

"Ten," muttered the young man with dark hair, brushing his hair from his eyes. He looked at his comrade, curiosity written on his face, waiting for an answer. "Well?"

"Twelve," said the other, somewhat nonchalant.

His facial expression remained unchanged, but you could hear clearly from his voice that he was delighted. At that moment another black creature showed up. The blond-haired guy defeated him when he wanted to dig its claws in the other boy.

Said boy turned. "Thanks, Cloud."

"And that was thirteen. What's wrong, old man? Can't keep up, Squall?" he noted with a smirk.

Squall rolled his eyes, looking a bit annoyed. "Hmph. Heckler," was all he said.

"Says who?"

He ignored that last comment and said, "Come on. We need to rescue the others."

"Okay, but where should we start?" Cloud wondered.

"Hey, I hear something."

"Except for the sounds of those creepy shadows that are destroying buildings and killing innocent people, you mean?"

Squall lifted his hand to him to be quiet. "Shush... It comes from... there," he concluded after a while, while pointing at that direction, "C'mon!"

They rushed to the direction where the sound came from. Once they arrived at that place, they found a man. They could hardly distinguish him from the dark. He was surrounded by black shadows that were clearly up to no good. The man tried to distance the shadows by using a long stick. It could also be a spear. It was hard to see that in the dark. He shouted insults at all those things. Even Squall and Cloud could hear what he said at this distance.

"Hey, that's the owner of the accessory shop!" Squall cried out.

"How do you know that?"

"Doesn't the swearing say enough?"

Cloud started to smirk. "Oh. Right. My mistake."

With his Gunblade in his hands, he ran up to the man to save him. Cloud immediately followed his example and also interfered in the battle.

"The little bitches. They attacked me and just came out of nowhere and I can't defeat them with my spear," Cid said, hissing.

They fought a long time. For every two creatures that were defeated another five of them seemed to appear instead of them, taking their place.

"This makes no sense. We can't fight like this forever. We gotta go and quick, before they multiply by ten."

Squall looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "What do you mean, go? We can't just leave the residents! We need to see if there are still people who need our help, in the west, near the Bailey," Squall noted.

"I've just checked the west. There was nobody there. Everybody is-" He stopped and swallowed his last word: dead. He changed his mind when he saw Squall's grimace. "Fleeding and that's we would be doing right now too, you know. I have a built Gummi Ship and-" Cid quickly said.

"Rinoa. We must first find Rinoa. I'm not going anywhere without her."

Cid sighed. What the hell was wrong with everyone? He didn't understand why everyone whined about their lover.

"I just told you that I just checked the whole city-"

"Chances are that you didn't look good enough. She must be here somewhere. Where else could she be? I _won't_ leave without Rinoa. Besides, I don't want to go away like a coward when there's something I can do about this shit. We can still fight back-"

"There are too much of them. You're too young to understand-"

"I can handle it and if you don't want to help me, then I'll do it all by myself."

Cid sighed. He started to get a headache because of him. At that moment they nearly got a heart-attack thanks to Cloud, who suddenly screamed, "Sephiroth!"

Squall looked at Cloud and followed his gaze. Another boy had appeared from out of nowhere at the place he was looking at. He had long silver-white hair that reached his waist and icy-blue eyes. His sword was almost twice as long and five times as thin as Cloud's sword. The shadows had suddenly disappeared with the appearance of the young man, almost as if he had scared them.

"Well well. Look who we have here. Surrender to the darkness, you know you want to," he said.

"Never!" Cloud roared in response.

Then he shot forward like a cannon ball. Just before the moment Cloud's sword would make contact with his throat, Sephiroth disappeared and then reappeared again, a few yards further.

"Catch me, if you can, Strife," he challenged Cloud, who let out a frustrated scream and chased immediately after him.

Squall decided to participate in this cat and mouse game and started to run after them too.

"Hey, where are you going? Get back here! It's too dangerous here for you to... oh, never mind already," Cid spoke, sighing. "Those goddamn kids will be my death someday..."

He then started to run after them. That didn't last long, for he had only run a few meters when he ran into something heavy. It struck him full in his stomach, and he flew a few feet in the air. He bounced like a bouncing ball on the ground and came to a rest against a wall.

He groaned in pain. He had scraped his elbows and probably broken his wrist. Preferably he would have remained there, but something in him told him that at this time that was the worst thing you could do, unless you wanted to be found by those monsters.

He got up slowly and looked what object had brought him so much pain. "Holy Fuck!"

Not far from him Squall lay on his back on the floor. He had several scratches on his face, but the worst of all was the cut from his nose to his forehead, where it stopped just below his left eye. Blood gushed from the wound and formed a small puddle around his head. Cid quickly ran to him at the exact same time that he was trying to scribble up.

"How are you?" Squall looked at him with such a fierce look, as if it felt that that look burned Cid alive. "Sorry. Stupid question."

He helped him getting up soon after Squall had picked up his weapon again. "I'm fine."

Yeah. Right, and he was Cloud's mother.

"What's happened?" Cid wanted to know.

"Cloud and Sephiroth suddenly disappeared and then a huge-"

The ground began to shake violently. The few buildings that had somehow managed to stand, were now collapsing too.

"What the hell is that? An earthquake? The Apocalypse? Your stomach? Please tell me it's the last thing."

"That's the monster that gave me this present." He pointed to his wound.

"Now we're really off. Come on." He pulled him to his arm, but Squall resisted. "This is no time for fucking games! Do you wanna die?" Cid barked at him.

"I told you, I will not leave this pl-"

How stubborn and annoying as hell could a boy get?

"Now you take a good listen, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once! If you don't come with me, those bastards will kill you. If you get killed by those punks, I'll drag you back from hell and kill you again! You really want to piss off those shadows, then why not try stayin' alive! That's what this war's all about! If you live, everybody behind you lives. If you die, I'll die, Rinoa will die and everyone else will die with us! You got that? Now come with me. You can save kicking their asses for later!"

Squall finally seemed to realize that maybe it was better to listen to Cid for once, even though he didn't know him so well. Hallelujah!

They ran away from the vibrations. Cid went first and he tried not to look at all the blood they saw on their way. There was blood everywhere. So much blood...

He became rather dizzy and lightheaded from the look of it. He tried not to sniff the smell of death, blood and destruction. His could feel his stomach rising, but he forced it down.

Squall stayed on his trail, which was pretty amazing, as you would expect that he would fall down since he had lost so much blood. Cid held him with his good arm, the one that wasn't broken (yet), to make sure that he was following him. The poor boy. His respect for him had increased significantly. He was a hardy spirit.

Several times they ran past burning buildings, or buildings where rocks came down, right toward them. They dodged them all. Sometimes it was a close one.

They reached the garage unscathed, which also could be called a small miracle. Suddenly he felt how Squall resisted again and did no longer move. In fact, Cid was pulled with him to the ground. Now what? Did the boy change his mind, or something?

He swallowed a few curses, and turned to look at him, while grumbling.

Oh. This was a different thing. Squall was laying on his back on the ground, again. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be unconscious. Cid looked at the garage, or rather the remains of it, because there was only one wall standing upright.

The elder girl with the long braid came out of the Gummi Ship.

"You! You're right in time. Help me to get him in the Ship," he barked at her.

She nodded and grabbed Squall's feet. "My name is Aerith Gainsborough, by the way."

"Now that's very nice for you. At three we lift him up, yes? One... two... three!"

Cid took his waist with his right arm and lifted him up. If he didn't get rheumatism because of him, then he would eat his shoes.

With much effort and a little help from Aerith, they finally managed to lift him inside the Ship. Aerith closed the door of the Gummi Ship behind her, after she and Cid had placed the wounded one down on a chair.

"Hey, I know him. That's Squallie!" cried the little girl with black hair.

So she could talk. That was something new.

"Congratulations. Now sit your ass down in that fucking chair and hold still! I have to concentrate."

"Aye Aye, Captain! Aerith, did you hear that? He said the f-word!"

Cid tried not to swear again. These people were giving him the nerves!

"Keep a towel against the big wound, eh... Aeris, or whatever your name is. It's in one of the wooden cabinets over there," he said, while pointing at those cabinets.

Aerith got up. "It's Aerith, Mr. Highwind."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine."

Cid turned and focused on his own work. He had to get this machine into the air. Now he thought about it, he became increasingly uncertain whether he would succeed or not. A defeated sigh escaped his lips. He turned the key in the key contact and pressed a few random buttons. The vehicle began to shake. Now the Ship was in motion.

He taxied it down the road and tried to make more speed. "Fasten your belts, hold tight and do a quick prayer!"

"Aye Aye, Captain!" said the little girl again.

There was some excitement in her voice. Cid held his breath. If this thing did not work...

He'd rather not think about it. He focused back on the road.

"C'mon, baby. Don't let me down now."

The long straight road was not so long as he had first thought. Oh no, they wouldn't make it!

_No, don't do this to me. Please. They're still children..._

When the road stopped, they fell down, into the black nothingness. The Ship fell several meters down, but miraculously it rose again. Cid was more than relieved. He started to breathe again. This was really a close one. He turned. Aerith and Yuffie both looked quite pale.

"I don't feel well. I think I'm gonna be sick!" Yuffie shrieked.

"I warn you: don't you dare to besmirch my ship with your vomit!"

Said ship suddenly started to shake violently. It seemed like it was stuck in some strong current and was pulled with it.

"What the-"

A shadow fell across the windshield. The shadow of the monster he and Squall had run away from, just a few minutes ago. In the 33 years of his life, he had never seen such a thing. This shadow was enormous. His eyes looked like two lights, surrounded by darkness. In terms of hair he looked like Medusa; the shadows on his head, his "hair", moved slowly in the wind, jumbled together like snakes.

With his arms, he tried to grab the Gummi Ship from the air. And he managed to do that. Now he tried to put the ship in his mouth, which resembled a big black hole. The gap was getting closer and closer. Yuffie and Aerith started to scream.

"Torpedoes... Fire!" Cid yelled.

A deafening bang drowned the screams of the timid girls, who were abruptly silent. The monster seemed to let go of the ship and the ship was thrown into the air.

"Hallelujah, Baby! Take that, fucker!" Cid hooted with delight, "Is it after us now?"

"I'm not looking," Yuffie cried. She put her hands over her eyes.

"You had built torpedoes?" Aerith asked incredulously.

"Of course. It was a small effort, but very useful, as you can see," he reported, very proudly.

"You could say that, yes... By the way, where is Cloud?"

Cid's heart skipped a beat. He had totally forgotten about Spiky.

He cleared his throat. "Uh... you see... the truth is... um... well... I have no idea where he is right now. I met him in the company of Squall, but then that Sephiroth had to appear. He started to chase after him and disappeared along with that demon. That's all I know... sorry."

He started to feel guilty and ashamed.

Aerith sighed and smiled sadly. "It's okay. At least I know now that he is safe. No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again. It's just a matter of time."

Wow, she definitely didn't sound like a thirteen year old girl. She sounded more mature. It was kinda scary in some sort of way.

"I want you to know that I didn't dislike him. Gotta admit he was a strange dude. Just when you thought he was cool, he'd go and do some damn fool thing. And when you thought he was smart, he'd show just how stupid he was. Everything about him from his movements to his speech were kinda odd. "

"That's because Cloud's a royal pain in the ass, if you ask me. Like always," Yuffie noted.

Aerith laughed. "Cloud is Cloud," was her opinion.

"With other words, that's what you like about him, right?" Yuffie said teasingly.

Aerith blushed slightly, saying nothing. That was the last thing that was said. Everyone was silent, absorbed in their own thoughts.

Cid picked up a pack of cigarettes and lit another one. "I always thought this planet was so huge. But lookin' at it from space, I realized it's so small. We're just Floatin' in the dark... kinda makes you feel powerless. On top of that it's got Sephiroth and that Maleficent lady along with her shadows festerin' inside it like a sickness. That's why I say this planet's still a kid. A little kid, sick and trembling in the middle of this huge universe. Someone's gotta protect it. Ya follow me? That someone is us. Mark my words: there will be a day when we will bring this planet, our home world, back to life, 'cause this story is not over yet," he said thoughtfully.

"Cid's right. That reminds me of a story that a nice old lady had told me years ago," Aerith mused.

This seemed to get the younger girl's attention. "Oh, will you tell me the story, pretty pretty please?"

Aerith smiled. "Sure, Yufs... I think it started with... Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it selfishly. They became jealous and wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived...in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we used to live in. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away. So there is still hope and we must never give up hope. Everything will be okay. It has to," Aerith said, firmly.

"I like happy-ending stories!" Yuffie cried, clapping in her hands.

Hope? At this moment hope seemed to be for dreamers, and for people without brains. Or for people who had a brain, but didn't use them. The word "desperation" did better fit here. Despair... and darkness. Darkness that swallowed everything. Even worlds.

"Uh, Mr. Highwind?" Aerith asked softly.

"Hmm," he grumbled.

From her voice he could hear clearly that something unpleasant would follow for him now. And he was right about it.

"Could you unlight your cigarette?"

"Why should I?" he asked brusquely.

"Because it's unhealthy... Not only for you, but also for me and Yuffie. It can kill you."

"Certainly not! For your information, this is my life and my Ship. So I do what I want. Get used to it. Understand?"

There was silence behind him. Deafening silence. Oddly enough, Cid didn't dare to turn. Not after his outburst. He was afraid of what he might see, crying children. Maybe he was too hard for them. After all, they were still kids. Unbelievable! Since when was he so afraid of children? He ground his teeth in frustration.

"So... where are we going to?" Aerith asked after a while, breaking the cold and unpleasant silence, which Cid was grateful for.

Oh. He hadn't even thought of that; his main goal had been to escape from those fuckers. Cid paused.

"Mister Cid?"

"It's just Cid for you."

What the hell was he supposed to answer her? He didn't even know himself.

"Did you have a plan?"

To be quite honest, no.

"Uh... you can choose. One, we land on the Moon or two, we enjoy flying aimlessly through space, just as long until we meet a random encounter, or some other planet with oxygen. "

"I'll go for option two!" Yuffie cried.

Unfortunately for him, Aerith was much more critical. "And how long exactly do you think you can persist this? We aren't accomplished and experienced astronauts, if you haven't noticed yet. I suppose you don't happen to have a few tons of oxygen with you," Aerith bit at him.

"Eh... no."

"Then what are we doing here? Waiting to die?"

Ai. Unfortunately, that smart-ass was right. That meant only one thing, they had only delayed their most painful death for a few hours. Dammit, now they were still not freed from this shit!

"You got a better idea, then? 'Cause if you do, please, share!"

Aerith said nothing. That effectively shut her mouth... for a while.

So now they floated around for hours in the infinite universe. Squall had turned to consciousness again. The bleeding from his wound had stopped. He hadn't said a word yet.

"This flight is sooo Boooring! Cid..."

_Oh no, there we go again. Dear god. Please don't do this to me_, he thought annoyed.

"And what exactly do you expect me to do about it?" he barked at the seven year old girl.

Yuffie was not impressed by the big and mean man.

She shrugged her shoulders at it. "Dunno... something? You could stand on your head or something? Oh, come on. I know you're all dying' to talk to a babe like me!"

He grunted something unintelligible in reply. Yuffie reminded him why he didn't want to have any children. They were annoying as hell. The older they got, the more annoying they would become, so there was no good side at it at all.

Aerith took the hint and immediately wanted to distract Yuffie with some story, when Yuffie asked, "Cid, where is this button for?"

"No, don't touch that but-"

Suddenly the ship began to shake violently again.

Yuffie was thrown back in her chair again. She laughed and said, "Did you hear that Aerith? Cid said butt!"

"What did you do now? I told you, don't touch that button! Ugh, some child you are!" Cid cried out, offended.

He lifted his hands to heaven. Then they heard a loud bang. The trembling was stronger and before anyone of them knew what exactly was going on, they fell with a dizzying speed in a downward spiral. This was bad. Very bad.

"Cid, what are you doing?" Aerith squealed, who was, just like the rest, pressed in her chair.

"I didn't do nothing! One of the engines is inoperative. And I've lost control of the wheel. Damn!"

Just a little too late it occurred to him that he had made a mistake, saying that out loud.

"This's gonna be a big splash. Hold on to your drawers, and don't piss in' em! You got your way, pus? Well you finally got some excitement in your life."

Whether they would survive this crash landing, was yet another chapter of the story.

"Hey, this isn't my fault! I'm not a crappy driver," she defended.

"Yuffie!" Aerith warned.

"Say what again?" Cid shouted menacingly.

They saw one or another planet, coming closer and closer. It consisted mainly of yellow pin buttons; light. In Cid's eyes yellow was good. Yellow meant safety. Yellow meant light. And light was good. Light was safe. Safe was good. Perhaps there was still hope, if they would survive this fall that is. He really had no idea why he thought this at the time that they would crash on the ground. Maybe his brains had made short circuit.

He turned. The last thing he saw was that Yuffie was holding Aerith dearly, just like a frightened child did when they sought protection by their mother. Squall had his eyes squeezed shut, his mouth was like a thin line. Then there followed a loud bang. The entire Gummi Ship was shaking after it. Then it was quiet. Dead Silence, again. For but a moment. Cid was the one this time who broke the deafening silence.

"So. That was... quite interesting, wasn't it?" He turned. Squall had his eyes still squeezed shut. "Everything okay here?"

Yuffie was still holding Aerith. Both nodded at the same time.

"That's good to hear."

Six pairs of eyes looked now at Squall, who seemed to sleep.

"Is he... dead?" Yuffie asked anxiously.

She let out a scream when Squall opened one eye and stared straight at her with his steel blue eyes. Then she started to giggle. Squall opened now both eyes, rolled them and then closed them again, grimacing because of the pain. He was obviously annoyed with Yuffie. Cid was sure that he wasn't the first one.

"I think that's a no," Cid said, grinning, "you still alive, Sergeant?"

Squall frowned and nodded briefly, eyes still closed.

"I think he's sick," Aerith remarked.

"No, really?" Cid asked sarcastically.

Cid now looked for any damage to his beloved ship. There was a dent in the floor and the walls and all glasses were broken. The ground was strewn with glass. No way to believe that they had fallen from such heights and also survived the fall. That Gummi Ship really was harder than steel. And that was a good thing.

They had crashed on a planet with enough oxygen. Through the windshield, which was now gone, Cid saw a large set of heavy oak double-doors. What would be beyond those doors? Another civilization? Aliens? Peaceful people? Refugees?

"So, are we ready to explore the outside world?" Cid asked.

Aerith wasn't so sure about that action, but they couldn't stay on this ship forever, right? Besides, they had to find some help for Squall.

When Cid managed to open those extremely heavy doors, he saw that he had come to a very cozy place. The lights were burning everywhere and the atmosphere was warm and snug.

In some way he felt right at home. The town was similar to a Victorian-age town in terms of design and layout. There was a restaurant with lighting candles to the left of the town entrance. There were people at the table who ate and drank something, while they chatted and watched the beautiful night sky. A girl of about Aerith's age stood against a wall and looked curiously at Cid. She had blond hair and dark eyes. The cute dress she wore was green-white.

Once he was sure she could do him no harm, he walked slowly toward her, as he tried to think of what he should say.

"Good evening, Sir. My name is Melody. How can I help you?" she asked kindly.

Her smile made Cid feel more comfortable. "Uh, good evening, Melody. Please forgive me, but uh... where are we exactly?"

He hoped that she wouldn't suddenly start to laugh, or think that he was just joking around... Or worse: think that he was some mental patient who had escaped.

"Oh, so you are a refugee?" she asked earnestly.

"Yes."

She nodded understandingly, as if she could feel his pain. "Welcome to Traverse Town. Here you will hardly be troubled by the Heartless."

"Heartless? Is that what those shadows are being called?"

"Yes. This whole town is full of refugees. I'm a refugee myself. Survivors of the worlds lost to the Heartless take shelter here. Traverse Town is serving as a home to those whose worlds have been destroyed by the Heartless."

"So it is quite possible that I'll meet acquaintances here?"

He thought of Cloud. He could have been stranded here too...

The girl did not answer immediately, but seemed to consider how she could tell him the truth. "The chances are not so big, but it is possible, yes," she finally said, while smiling. "Now, if you want to follow me, I'll take you to the hotel. Once we have found a suitable place for you where you can live, you may revoke it. Shall we?"

The girl did not wait for an answer, but already turned around and walked away, assuming that Cid would immediately follow. She had clearly done this more than once. He wondered where she had come from and when... and who she had lost.

"Wait, I have three passengers with me. One is wounded, so I think he needs help."

"Oh!"

She turned and beckoned to someone. A group of three men came to her. They greeted her and Cid with a nod.

"Hi, guys. This man needs help. There is a wounded outside the entrance and some more refugees. Can you help them out?"

The guys nodded at the same time and walked to the door. Cid followed immediately. Then everything went very quickly. They didn't go to the hotel, though. Apparently the girl had already found a suitable place for them. They proceeded to the Third District. The Third District was a plaza also overrun with Heartless, but it was the smallest of the three main districts. They could withdraw in the Vacant House. Well, they could have better called it the "Small House," because it wasn't that big.

There was not much in the house. In the room there was only one table with some chairs, cabinets, a stack of boxes and a bed. Behind the stack of boxes there was another door, which led to a small kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom.

The young lady felt that they probably wouldn't be in the mood for cooking, so she had brought some food from the restaurant. Cid thanked her, but she waved it away like it was nothing.

Cid had already noticed that the inhabitants of this town were very helpful to strangers, probably because they knew how it felt to lose their world and their loved ones. Here it was different from Hollow Bastion. Even the buildings here looked homier than they were at home. Home... He missed it already.

Melody had brought a few pots with green sludge in it with her. She said it was potion. Once Cid took a sip of it, the pain and swelling of his wrist reduced. Within seconds, the fracture healed even completely. Melody grabbed Squall by his chin.

Squall tried to pull his head away, but Melody held him tight. "Hold still, please. That's easier for me," she said.

Squall did as she asked him, even if it was with reluctance. He stared fiercely at her, but Melody didn't seem to care. She dropped some potion on the wound. Once the potion made contact with his skin, the skin began to grow together. There was now only a scar left on his forehead.

"Oh my. That must have really hurt. I think the wound was too deep. Therefore it's not completely healed," she said softly.

Squall looked at her. He touched his forehead with his hand. When he felt the scar, his eyes opened wide with disbelief. A cry, followed by a curse escaped his lips.

"Sorry. I wish I could do more for you," Melody said regrettably. She gave him and the others a potion bottle. "Drink this and you will feel better. Really. You can also drop it on your wound. If you need help with something, anything, do not hesitate to ask me for help, okay?" she said.

"Sure and thanks," Cid said, smiling.

Once she had left, Yuffie said, while grinning at Squall, "I think she has a crush on you."

Squall blushed slightly and was sending daggers to Yuffie, but he said nothing. Yuffie quickly went to Aerith and sat on her lap to look for protection against Squall.

"Let's make the best of it, now we are here," Aerith said.

The others were silent. That silence lingered in the room until they went to sleep.

That night, all of them had nightmares. Cid didn't dare to sleep anymore. He had lost friends, family, everything. It was all his fault. He felt so guilty when he thought about all the mistakes he had made in one night.

He should've tried to help more people when he had had the chance to. He should've gone to the Gummi Ship earlier, before the Heartless were so rampant in the streets. He should've started to build the Gummi Ship earlier, so he could have escaped earlier. He should've shot that fucker, Ansem, who had done this to his own people. Some king that is... or was.

There were a lot of things Cid thinks he should've done different. But now it was too late. It didn't matter anymore. Now he should worry about how he had to feed four people, including himself.

* * *

The next day Cid woke up quite early. Not only did he want to explore the town, he also searched for a place where he could start a shop, which was the only thing he was good at, save for flying.

Traverse Town was a calm town. The town featured a sky of eternal night, where stars could be seen clearly. The people seemed not to mind the perpetual night, but it had confused him first, thinking that he'd been mistaken until he had asked someone about it. Apparently they were all used to it. Cid wondered if he would ever see the sun again.

While he was wondering all this, he saw that a star disappeared. Huh? And when he focused on the sky, he saw that then another one disappeared, and another one. They kept disappearing. Just like that. That wasn't normal, was it? Something was terribly wrong here.

The town was divided into three major districts along with several minor locations such as alleyways and caves. He noticed that it was also a great place to shop. He was quite sure that the girls would love that. The First District was the most peaceful of the three, without the presence of Heartless. The First District was also where most survivors of the destroyed worlds could be found. There was an Item shop, run by three talking ducks, named Huey, Dewey and Louie. They had lots of potions in stock.

Moogles also took residence here, where they successfully run a Synthesis workshop, on the top floor of an empty building, directly across from the world's entrance. Cid asked them if he could hire the space downstairs, so he could start his own accessory shop. The moogles said it was no problem. So now there was a lot of work for him to do now. He wasn't complaining. At least this took his mind off of everything that had happened last night.

* * *

When he took a short break, he strolled through the Second District. Notable locations were the Gizmo Shop, with its raised platforms, and the Dalmatian's House, where Pongo and Perdita, two cute Dalmatians, had settled due to the destruction of their world. He was now at the Alleyway.

He wondered what would happen if the power would go or if all the watches suddenly didn't work. Would these people still know what time it was? And whether it was day or night?

And then the mailbox, that was standing close to the door leading into the Third District. What on earth did they need a mailbox for? Their world was destroyed anyway so to whom could they send a post card? These people were really strange.

From the Alleyway, he went through the drainage grate opposite the crates.

"Secret Waterway." It was written sloppy on a sign with yellow paint. It was quite a surprise to find Squall there. So the "Secret Waterway" was no longer a secret. Squall was busy with training with his Gun blade. Cid waited until Squall had noticed him. That didn't last long.

Squall immediately stopped his training and looked expectantly at Cid, raising his eyebrows. "How long have you been standing here?" he asked, when Cid didn't start a conversation.

"Long enough to wonder why you're training like a madman," said Cid. He tried not to sound curious, but he failed miserably.

"For when there'll come another invasion of Heartless. This time I'm ready. I will not make the same mistakes that I made last time."

"-Squall"

"DON'T call me Squall. I don't want to hear that name anymore. Not until I'm worthy of that name again. I don't want to be reminded of what a coward I was."

Cid raised his eyebrows. "Oh, and how should I call you now? Bruno?"

Squall thought about it for a moment. His gaze slowly slid to his revolver and then to his Griever. He then seemed to have made a decision.

"Call me... Leon."

"Leon Leonhart?"

He tried not to burst out laughter. Give him a break! It sounded weird, not to say ridiculous.

"No... Just Leon."

He seemed more determined than ever. Well, it was his life. If he wanted to change his name, then so be it. He was old enough to make such decisions by himself. He probably wouldn't listen to him, anyway, as stubborn as he was.

"Okay, just Leon. Let's go. I'm starving. Moreover, I bet that the two ladies are worried."

Leon nodded briefly and followed him. They headed toward the Small house. The mandatory paternity would be very hard, since he had no experience with children. Fortunately they listened to him. He didn't count Yuffie; she was an exception. He just knew that these years would become very hard, but they would survive... or so he hoped.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! =) I hope you've enjoyed it. And sorry for the sudden ending. ^_^**

**Reviews are welcome, by the way. Let me know what theme you want to see back in the next chapters, as long as it's still T-rated. :P**

**Next chapter: Leon makes plans about their future.**


	7. New future plans

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot. I've decided to write more one shots about the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. You'll learn now why Cid has a toothpick in KH. Enjoy. ;) **

**Thanks: SecretAgent99, my beta reader.**

* * *

_~ "Just give me 3 minutes with those Heartless. No, make it 2. Well maybe 3... or 4. Well it really depends on how many there are. But I think if there were 5 I could probably take them in 2. Or 2 in 5, or 3 in 4..." ~_

* * *

Cid had no idea that trouble awaited him at home, otherwise he would have stayed in his own shop and kept himself locked there for the rest of his life. He knew very well whose idea it had been. It wasn't that hard to guess. That damned girl again. Who else? If you gave her one finger, then she would take your whole hand with pleasure. And just when you realized what she was doing, you couldn't tell her to stop that at once, because she had you in her power with that horrible sweet smile.

Once he stepped inside the house, he felt that threat already. Aerith, who first had been in the kitchen, now walked toward Cid. She had a small jar in her hands, that caught Cid's attention immediately. That wasn't even the worst thing. That look in her eyes didn't please Cid at all. She was planning something unpleasant, unpleasant for him that is.

"Hello, how was your day?" she asked kindly.

Oh no, that was her sweet, in sugar coated, caring voice. He knew that it promised little good. Cid wanted to run away from her, but found out that his feet didn't want to listen to him. They felt much better inside, where it was warm and cozy, and where he could smell that a delicious meal was coming.

"It was okay," Cid grumbled.

He quickly looked away from her eyes and sat down on a chair. Squall - no, it was Leon now - went to his regular corner. From there he had a good view of the entire room. Not that he needed that, because mentally, he didn't seem to be present in this room. Cid knew that he was brooding over a past he couldn't change, again. Instead of brooding over his past, he should worry about the future, 'cause Aerith would make it very difficult for all of them. Yuffie too, what with her annoying high pitched voice. Cid was preparing for the worst.

"Guys, Yuffie and I have decided something rather important today. As we all four are quite different from each other, we must learn to live together, without always having the tendency to give each other a blow. Everyone must sacrifice something. We can all agree with that, right?"

She looked expectantly at everyone. Her gaze rested a little bit longer on Cid, which made him nervous. At long last, he nodded reluctantly.

"So... from now on Cid is not allowed to smoke or swear anymore. Every time he does so, he has to put one Munny in this can, okay? That'll teach him how to control himself in our presence. Okay, that's agreed then," Aerith said firmly.

"Hey, there ain't nothing agreed! Nobody has asked me for my opinion. That is certainly not democratic!" Cid shouted angrily.

"We don't have to be democratic here. From now on, women call the shots. Yuffie and I already have taken away and burned all your cigarettes, so that will make things a little bit easier for you, don't you think?" Aerith replied with a small smile.

Cid quickly searched in his pockets. There were really no more cigarettes left in them. When had they done that? When he was napping? This was fucking unbelievable!

"Fuck!" he exclaimed furiously.

Aerith opened the jar and looked expectantly at Cid.

"What?" Cid cried out offended.

Then he understood what she wanted. He fumbled in his pockets and put one Munny in the swear jar. Cid really wanted to beat the children right now, until he invented something. She hadn't said anything about alcohol and he was not foolish enough to start about it. That would only give her more nasty ideas. He began to grin. Aerith had been right, he shouldn't give up hope so quickly. There was always a way out.

"This also applies to liquor," Aerith said, when she saw how he started to smirk.

In stead of the smirk, a grimace appeared now on his face. It made him look much older.

"Cr-"

He saw how Aerith's eyes lit up. In his opinion, crap wasn't even a swear, but he managed to change the word right in time. With people like Aerith you could never know for sure.

"...unchies. Crunchies. Do we have any crunchies left? 'Cause I'm starving."

"Good, you're already learning how to control yourself. You're already progressing. And no, no crunchies for you, for we're about to eat," Aerith said, still smiling sweetly.

She really had a devilish smile. It said: "Ha ha, I can make you suffer under my power and you'll have to get used to it!" He wished that there was a way to make that scary smile disappear for a while.

He shook his head. She had already affected his mind. This wasn't healthy. Aerith got up and went to the kitchen. Apparently, dinner was ready.

"But what about with my reputation?" Cid asked stubbornly.

Yuffie started to giggle. Cid ignored her.

"Did you have that then?" Aerith asked from out of the kitchen.

"Of course I have! I am now known as the scolding and chain smoking pilot everywhere and I want to keep it that way. It is tough and rugged and it fits my personality. I don't want to be called a softy and that is exactly what you're making of me with your stupid demands," Cid grumbled.

Aerith practically roared with laughter at that point. That made Cid feel even more furious. Who the hell did that child think that she was?

She reappeared in the room and walked toward Cid. "Here."

She handed him something. It was a toothpick.

Cid looked at it, a stunned expression appearing on his face. "What the heck am I supposed to do with that?"

"It's for your reputation. This is much healthier for your lungs. By the way, that's a swear too. Yuffie, can you get the swear jar for Cid please?" Aerith asked.

Cid growled something under his breath and snatched the toothpick away from her, sending her a glare. He started to chew on his toothpick to keep himself calm, while putting another Munny in the jar. Why was his life getting so hard and unfair?

* * *

During dinner, everyone, especially Yuffie, was chatting, like they knew each other for years, like they were one big happy family. Everyone, except Leon, who stared straight ahead and didn't speak one word.

"Leon, is there something wrong?" Cid asked, noticing how the boy had become silent again.

Leon hadn't eaten anything yet. He still hadn't said a word against the two girls since they had left Hollow Bastion. He was starting to get worried about the boy. He wasn't really a talker so he had no idea what the heck was he was thinking.

"Yes, you still haven't eaten your dessert. Don't you like my cooking?" Aerith asked, worried and a little hurt.

Apparently she couldn't take any criticism about her cooking.

"May I? I think chocolate pudding is delicious!" Yuffie exclaimed happily, who didn't seem to notice the problem at all.

Leon didn't say anything, but pushed the plate with chocolate pudding toward Yuffie, who sat across of him.

"Thank you, Squallie!" she cried.

"It's Leon," he said, sighing.

He was obviously annoyed with her. These were the first two words he had spoken in front of Aerith and Yuffie since they had fled from Hollow Bastion. Yuffie looked at him for three seconds with a puzzled look on her face and her mouth open, but then shrugged her shoulders and began to eat her pudding.

"I've been thinking," he finally said, when he noticed that two pair of eyes were still looking at him.

"And?" Yuffie wanted to know, as curious as she was.

"Yuffie, don't talk with your mouth full," Aerith immediately whispered, but she still looked at Leon, more interested yet worried now.

Yuffie stack her tongue at her, which she didn't see. She continued eating, mumbling something like, "'S ma life."

"I want to do something. I want to make myself useful. I want to borrow the same Gummi Ship which we used when we came here, to find survivors in other worlds and bring them here, where it's fairly safe... And I want to search for Rinoa. I would look down the entire galaxy if I had to, but I will find her, wherever she is, even if that's the last thing I'll have to do."

"Aaaw, that's so sweet! I didn't know you were such a romantic! You know what, I'll go with you! I mean, someone has to watch you in case you'll do something stupid again," Yuffie cried immediately, glancing at his impressive scar.

"No, you don't," Cid said sternly.

This was certainly something Squall - no, Leon - just had to do alone.

"What? I don't get it! Why can't we help out?" Yuffie asked indignantly.

The louder she talked, the more pitched her voice became.

"This is Man Talk," Cid replied brusquely.

Why couldn't she just shut the fuck up for at least ten seconds?

"Sexist! Sexiiiiist!"

Yuffie pointed accusingly at him with her index finger. Cid blinked, his eyes rather dazed. He was really surprised that she knew such a word at such a young age. She was only seven.

"Yuffie, calm down and mind your language. She is right, though. Aren't we supposed to stay together, especially after what's happened? We only have each other now," Aerith said.

"It's far too dangerous. I can't get all of you involved. I would never forgive myself if something would happen to one of you because of me," Leon spoke solemnly.

"Hey, that's Cloud's line! '...It's too dangerous, I can't get you involved...' Blah blah blah. Why are all men the same? We're very well capable of taking care of ourselves, you know?"

Despite of that, Aerith still smiled lightly.

"Oh come on! I know you want my help because I'm so good! After all, I'm the great ninja Yuffie! I am the Champion of the Earth and the sky. I am the conqueror of evil. The single white rose of-"

"You don't even have a weapon, so how do you want to fight? By talking their ears off their head?" Cid interrupted her impatiently.

That was the first mistake which Cid learned of that night. You should never just stop her, because then it would take extra time before she would finally shut her mouth.

"Who says I need one? Just give me 3 minutes with those Heartless. No, make it 2. Well maybe 3... or 4. Well it really depends on how many there are. But I think if there were 5 I could probably take them in 2. Or 2 in 5, or 3 in 4..."

"Are you finished? 'Cause we all have better things to do than to listen to your rattle," Cid said impatiently.

Yuffie put her hands on her hips, looking mad in a funny way. Cid tried not to laugh. That would make her only act worse.

"Well excuse me for trying to help!" she cried indignantly. She continued softly, "You big mean grumpy ugly old man!"

Fortunately for her, Cid didn't hear any of that, because he said nothing about it. Or he simply ignored her, which was more unlikely.

"You know, I really want to know more about the Heartless. Where do they come from, what do they want, what's their goal, and how do we beat 'em? 'Cause if we don't even know how to beat 'em, then what can we do against them?" Cid thought.

"I think that I might have an answer to those questions," Aerith said softly.

Everyone looked at her in amazement. Even Leon, although he tried to hide it. Cid doubted whether such a sweet and innocent girl (with a devilish smile!) knew what to do the best against those monsters. Aerith seemed to know what she was talking about though.

She got up and walked to the cupboard, and she began to rummage in the drawers. She let out a soft cry and then pulled a few sheets from the drawer. She carried it back to the table and opened the first page. She even had Yuffie's attention now, because she immediately stopped eating and pushed her chair closer to Aerith's.

"Aeri, what's that?" Yuffie asked softly, pointing to the pile.

"This is a small part of the answers to our questions. I've found this in the library of Hollow Bastion when I was looking there for a book, a few days ago. The notes seem to be from Ansem the Wise."

"Ansem?"

The name made Cid pay attention now too. He was all ears.

"Yes, Ansem the Wise. There are a lot of interesting things written in here. I'm so sorry that I haven't got them all, as there were several reports. This is only the first one... Oh well, there's nothing to do about it now. Let's see. It says, "Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times. Darkness... Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness."

There was a short silence.

"Wow, some pessimist that was," Cid muttered.

"Um... I didn't understand more than the half of it," Yuffie reported confused.

"I think that Ansem was worried. He believed darkness sleeps in every heart... so maybe this means that the Heartless are born from the hearts of the people, as the Heartless are born in the darkness, the darkness of hearts. That means that the only way to defeat the Heartless, is to make all darkness from the hearts of the people disappear. And maybe the legend that I've told Yuffie before also has something to do with it. According to that legend, the people of the universe once lived in harmony on one world, with their hearts full of light. Unfortunately, they began to selfishly fight over the light, and darkness grew within their hearts, covering everything and destroying the world. The light survived in the hearts of children, who were able to rebuild the broken fragments of the one world into many, smaller worlds. However, the true light was still hidden in the darkness, so the worlds remained separate. If we find that true light, we can save all worlds and all the people... I don't think that we'll be able to do that by ourselves, though. We don't have enough information," Aerith said thoughtfully.

"Hmm... That's very farfetched... but it kinda makes sense... in some way... I guess," Cid thought.

"This is also a reason to travel through the worlds, we must find those reports, or Ansem, otherwise we will get nowhere, for Ansem's the only one who knows the answers," Leon considered.

This finally convinced everyone that it was the best if Leon travelled with his Gummi Ship between Worlds, while helping survivors and searching for Ansem's reports. But he would only do that once he was sure that the First District was safe enough against Maleficent and the growing tide of Heartless, for the most refugees lived there. In the mean time Cid would build a new and even better Gummi Ship for him.

In the 33 years that Cid had lived, he had never known anyone like these three children. The oldest reminded him of a very worried mother, even though she was only seventeen years. She always supported everyone, knew how to reassure you, gave you hope, could heal you and also knew how to prepare a delicious meal in which nothing was missing, in such a short amount of time.

The boy was the easiest, but still unbelievable stubborn. He was quiet, a thinker that couldn't let go of the past, a bit cold, he certainly knew how to kick ass, he fortunately only minded with his own business and thought he had to be the hero if it was necessary.

The youngest of the three, an annoying busybody, was someone who followed you everywhere and always asked you many questions. She wasn't even the worst of the three, despite her non-stop hyperactivity. Where she got all that energy from, Cid did not know. The brat could nag about nothing for hours on end, until she finally got her way. Only Aerith seemed to know how to handle her. She seemed to be immune to those pleading puppy eyes and her voice, which sometimes sounded like a crow who needed water. Leon ignored her as much as possible. All he found annoying was that she disturbed his peaceful silence and always called him Squall, no matter how many times he said that his name was Leon now. That was obviously not something she could learn off.

Cid got up. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed early, 'cause it's been a long day. I'm exhausted. I'll start working on a new Gummi Ship tomorrow, okay?"

"That's fine," Leon said, while nodding.

Life was pretty hard here. He had to work hard and very long to be able to survive this mess. At least nobody knew about Cid's secret Liquor cabinet, so everything would be alright. For now.

He hid his smirk. If Aerith would see that, than she would be suspicious again. He didn't want that to happen, of course.

* * *

**A/N: What? He has a secret liquor cabinet? I'm wondering for how long it will be a secret, especially now that Aerith and the great ninja Yuffie are around.**

**Thanks for reading, by the way! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^**


	8. Yuffie writes a letter

**A/N: I still own nothing of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot. This one shot takes place one year after they had moved to Traverse Town, while Leon is visiting other worlds. Yuffie has her first crush on... someone. She is writing an interesting letter to Leon. Enjoy reading. :)**

**Thanks: celticskyedancer, my first reviewer, and SecretAgent, my beta reader.**

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_~ "I'm getting too old for this shit." ~_

* * *

It was almost 6:00 pm. There was only silence in the Small House. Cid was still at work and Aerith was busy in the kitchen, probably preparing dinner or something of the like. It was a good thing that at least one person here knew how to cook, so they wouldn't starve. And Leon... he wasn't even here. Who knew where he was now.

Yuffie looked intently at the blank paper that lay in front of her, on the spotless wooden table. She scratched her head with the pen she held in her hand, being just as absent-minded as she looked at the moment, and sighed once again. A deep crease appeared on her forehead while she was thinking.

This was much harder than she had thought at first. Writing never had been her cup of tea. She always wrote pages full of rubbish. When she, for example, started writing about ghosts, she ended with something like a toothbrush in a sock. Often she didn't have the slightest clue how that had happened, but it _had _happened somehow.

Sometimes she wondered why Aerith had taught her to write anyway, because she knew too that Yuffie only wrote rubbish. Was it to keep her busy and quiet? In that case, it did work. Not that she admitted that.

How the hell should she start? Perhaps the right approach was: don't think too much and just do it!

She put her pen resolutely on the paper and began writing. The tip of her tongue stuck out of her mouth automatically.

**_Dear Squall,_**

She had decided not to call him Squallie anymore, even though it sounded so sweet. She was eight years old now, so she was already too old for that. She was no longer a child. What would he think of her?

Okay, and how should she continue now? Oh, she knew it already.

**_I know what you'll think when you read this, while rolling your eyes. You'll think, "It's Leon," in a very dry Leon-way, which, unfortunately, is something I can't imitate yet. I'm working on it, though._**

Yuffie giggled. He always said the same words to her and she knew very well that every time he was getting more annoyed with her, although he didn't show it. Probably because he thought that she would use that against him, which she actually would.

**_But I'll just keep calling you by your real name, you know, because it fits much more with you. You're the silence before the St- Squall, vague and somewhat gloomy (As always. Seriously, most of the time I don't even understand the half of what you're saying, that is, __if__ you talk!), but also beautiful to see. You're also a real Squall when you're fighting the Heartless, or when you're training in the Secret Waterway. I think Aerith's more like a cute bunny and Cid's a grumbling and cursing grizzly bear. _**

That last image almost cracked her up; a grumpy grizzly bear with a toothpick in his mouth. It was too hilarious for words.

She hadn't seen the brunet swordsman for months now. She wondered how much he had changed and what he was doing right now. Did he let his hair grow longer, instead of getting a haircut? Would he miss her as much as she missed him? Probably not, but she still hoped he would.

**_I hope you're alright and you haven't received a new scar, so you have a big X on your forehead, like... forever. Lol, X marks the spot! But if you do, then it won't be such a problem, cuz you can hide it with your hair, so Melody won't see it. That would be so shocking to her. Hmm, that makes me wonder, would there be anyone with an X-shaped scar on his forehead? Cuz that would be totally awesome!_**

She was rambling again, she couldn't help it. Wait a minute, why was she writing this letter in the first place, when writing wasn't really her cup of tea? It wasn't because Aerith was trying to keep her quiet, but why then?

**_Anyways, the reason I'm writing this letter is because Cid's far too lazy to do it (what a surprise!), and Aerith is far too busy with cooking right now. Plus you had asked __me__ to keep you informed of what's been happening here in your absence. I had to write down everything that kept me going... or something like that._**

**_Well, this time I was a bit distracted by your impressive scar, so I must confess that I didn't quite follow you. Yeah, sorry about that. (No, this time it wasn't your stormy eyes, I'm afraid.) And your voice hypnotized me a bit. You know, at first I found your scar pretty scary, but now I think completely different about it. It is actually quite sexy and cool and mysterious. It fills in what you already have at looks._**

Yuffie started to grin, as she continued. It was time for some fun.

**_And now to the point. Let's see, there were almost no attacks of Heartless in the three Districts, except the one that made Cid lose one of his legs in such a painfully way that it made Aerith scream. I didn't even dare to look what exactly was happening after that, so I can't give you any details. So in the end, we have lost more than we received (In case you were wondering, it was his right one)..._**

**_..._**

**_Kidding. Haha, I got you with that one, didn't I? Man, I bet you wanna kill me now, or at least beat the crap out of me. But I know that you love me anyway._**

Or that was what she was hoping for.

**_Seriously, Cid and a few other men, who now have also become a member of the Resistance, and even the three cute ducks who run the item shop - I don't know their names. Never bothered to learn them -, have personally ensured our safety, so there is not much to mention, I think. Except the fact that Aerith now is working as a part time babysitter and that I, the best ninja that ever will be, have discovered the secret liquor cabinet of Cid, all by myself! Cid's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, so I think he was pretty surprised. He begged me to promise to say nothing to Aerith, because he was afraid that she would burn everything flat. He also mentioned something about her smile. It would be devilish. I bet he was rambling._**

**_Haha, Cid really is funny when he goes begging people. He nearly kissed my feet when I asked him (Seriously!), but that's beside the point._**

**_I don't know whether I should keep it a secret. I mean, it does have a bad influence on my education if I have a drunk as an example, right?_**

**_So I already told Aerith about it. She's waiting for Cid to come home and then I can watch the show. You really are missing a lot of fun here._**

She knew very well that Cid wouldn't spare her today. He would probably kill her right away, when he entered the house. Maybe it was a good idea to write her testament after this letter. Not that she owned that much, only a picture of her parents, where she's sitting on her father's lap, and she would take that one with her to her grave.

She listened for a short moment to all the sounds she could hear, her breath bated. Aerith was still in the kitchen and she probably would stay there for a long time. That was a good thing, because this way, she wouldn't get interrupted by anyone.

**_I know it's kinda mean of me, but sometimes I just hope that you won't find Rinoa ever. I guess now you wanna know why. Well, I've been thinking too. It's because I wanna marry you when I grow up and I don't care that you're nine years older, because in real love it doesn't matter. Well, that's what Aerith said and I believe her, so I'll be waiting here for you._**

**_Did you know that there are countries where girls have to marry men who sometimes are even thirty years older? So in this regard nine years is almost nothing._**

Yuffie looked at the last paragraph, while frowning. Then she blushed slightly. What was she talking about? She crossed through it, so he couldn't read it. Not that she had planned to let him read this anyway. It was more something like a diary page for her. Then she continued,

_**I hope you'll come back soon. Everyone misses you. But I don't, of course. I mean, you're so quiet; it's kinda hard to notice you, even when you're standing next to me. Not that you do that very often. Actually, all you do is ignore me all the time.**_

She was wondering why. Did he hate her for some reason, or was it something else? Maybe he was a little bit scared of her. After all, Leon _was_ kinda strange and vague. Who knows what he was thinking.

_**Well, I think I'm gonna stop now, 'cause this letter is getting far too long; almost two whole pages! I've never written this much in my whole life. It's still a wonder that my hand doesn't hurt yet.**_

She heard the door slam. Cid was home... Uh-oh. She'd better get outta here if she wanted to live.

_**Oh shit (yeah, you've got that one right, that's Cid's influence on me) I can hear Cid yelling. He's at home and he sounds pretty mad. I'd better get going, 'cause he's screaming my name in a very angry and scary way. Bye bye.**_

**_So lots of kisses and hugs, (believe me, once you're back again, then I'll personally hug you to death! That's a promise, so you can't escape from it, heehee.)_**

_**Yuffie Kisaragi**_

"YUFFIE!" he shouted loud. The whole house seemed to shudder as he rushed toward her, like a mad rhinoceros.

She quickly got up and ran away, not thinking about the letter anymore. Cid didn't really sound like he was in a good mood today. Little did she know that that was a big mistake of her.

Cid cursed when he reached the table and sat down to catch his breath. "I'm getting too old for this shit," he murmured. Then his eyes fell on the letter Yuffie had written. "What's this?" He grabbed it and started reading. "Well well. What do we have here? A love letter."

A grin appeared on his face when he realized that he could use this letter as black-mail, any time he wanted. It could be of use sometime...

Yuffie would pay for telling Aerith about his secret liquor cabinet.

He put the letter quickly in his pocket when Aerith entered the room. He would get Yuffie later.

"Wow, you seem to be in a very good mood today," Aerith noted, eyeing his grin.

"Let's say that I discovered that luck's finally on my side."

Aerith smiled, guessing that business went good, or something. "That's good to hear. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes and after that I'd like to have a word with you."

"'Kay."

She turned to leave again. He knew what she wanted to talk about.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. ^-^ R&R!**


	9. The returning of the Lion

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place one year after the previous one.**

**And no, I'm not dead yet. It was holiday and the weather was kinda depressing, when I wrote this (somewhere between January and February). I was starting to detest snow and I miss(ed) the sun, so this time I wrote a sadder one shot. Leon has just returned from his long journey to other worlds to take some rest, thinking that it was all for nothing. Oh, and I don't really know that much about Rinoa, so forgive me if she's a bit OOC...**

**Enjoy reading! ;)**

**Thanks: AreYouStillThere, Anna-Sky Valentine Nox, LoreilDarksky00 and SecretAgent99, my beta reader.**

* * *

_~ She could clearly hear some amusement leaping in his voice after his discovering. However, he could also be amused because Yuffie's face was as red as a beet. ~_

* * *

There had already been one year passed. Seasons came and went, but nobody in Traverse Town had ever suffered from it. Here in Traverse Town, it was always night. The sky was as black as ink. You gradually got depressed, because it never changed. Not that anyone showed it to another. Or maybe they were already used to it. Only the biting wind was sometimes annoying, even to the residents who came here a long time ago.

In that whole year, Yuffie still hadn't found the letter she'd written to Squall once. Where could it be? She had been looking everywhere. She had thrown every room in the house into odds. Aerith had become quite angry with her, especially when it had been the kitchen's turn. According to her, the kitchen was her domain. Nobody was allowed to change anything from the kitchen without her permission. She was not often angry, - well, now that Yuffie thought of it, she had never seen Aerith getting mad before - so this time, she really had been serious about it.

Yuffie started to worry about the whole situation. It gave her a terrible headache. What if someone had it secretly into his or her possession and was actually planning to use it against her sometime? She had already found out that she was living in a big bad world with mean people. In fact, she was sharing this house with two of them. It was as simple as that, the older people got, the meaner they became. Nothing was what it seemed to be anymore and only children had a pure heart these days.

It couldn't have been Aerith of course. No, she was far too sweet to be that false. She would never take revenge on her, just because she had "beaten" her kitchen. Maybe she had accidentally thrown it away, when she had cleaned the house once again. That could be possible. Or rather, that was what she was hoping for.

Cid however, was a complete other story. Secretly, she suspected that he knew more about this subject than he mentioned, because he still hadn't killed her after he discovered that she had informed Aerith about his not that secret liquor cabinet. Plus, he always looked furtively at her from the corner of his eyes when she made a comment, as though he waited patiently until he could strike again.

On the other hand, Aerith had not destroyed or banned his liquor cabinet. She had said she would only do that when he came home completely drunk, or if he dared to give Yuffie some of the stuff he kept there. So he really had no reason to torture Yuffie. Not yet, anyway.

But that only meant...

Oh no! What if Squall had read it somehow anyway? That would explain why he barely said something to her six months ago. That was the last time he had come here to take a short rest from his work. Every time he visited Traverse Town, the town became a lot fuller. It seemed soon enough that Hollow Bastion, their home world had not been the only planet that had faced with all the Heartless.

"Ohmigosh, now what? I don't even dare to look at him anymore! What should I do?" she cried out, completely shell shocked.

She didn't even know if that was true, so she couldn't just ask him whether he really had read that letter. It would only make him suspicious, and then he would ask her what she meant. She didn't want to explain anything. Nobody should know about this. That would be the best, because they would just laugh at her because she was such an idiot.

Her musings were suddenly shattered by a loud cry, obviously coming from Aerith, since she was the only person after Yuffie who could make such a high pitched noise. Her cry was followed by a slamming door. Yuffie's heart skipped a beat. Because the walls were as thin as cardboard, it sounded as if she sat in the living room too.

She stood up, straining her ears. Was it a burglar? Crap, and her shuriken was in the living room. Her heart beat so hard against her rib cage when she heard that deep voice and recognized him, that it almost hurt.

Her first thought was, _Squall's back!_ quickly followed by, _So soon already?_

She tiptoed to the door that led to the living room. The door was ajar. She stood there, hidden behind the shadows of the big stacked boxes, so she could hear and see everything they said and did clearly.

"Please. Have a seat, Leon," Aerith said.

He did what she said, albeit somewhat slower than normal. Yuffie could tell that there was something in his attitude that wasn't quite right. It looked like... desolation, as if he had abandoned all hope in the world. All of a sudden? That could only mean one thing: something had happened. Something terrible. Yuffie was sure she would now hear what exactly that was.

Meanwhile Aerith poured a cup of steaming tea in a teacup, which she handed over to him. He took the cup with a brief nod.

His eyes stared for minutes to one or another point in the distance, until Aerith asked, "What happened? I thought you would come back after at least another month?"

Leon looked up slowly, but seemed to have changed his mind halfway back and looked again at his reflection in his teacup. Just when Aerith thought he wouldn't answer, he spoke softly, "Everything I did, it was all for nothing."

He put his cup down on the table and held his head in his hands. His long brown hair fell like a dark curtain over his face, which came out well, because now no one could see whether he was crying or not.

Aerith was about to ask him what he meant when he said, "She's vanished."

There appeared an understanding look both on both Aerith's and Yuffie's face. Rinoa. Who else?

"I've looked for her everywhere. _Everywhere._ She was nowhere to be found. I gave my address to everyone I met, just in case someone will hear something of her," Leon said smothered.

Something snapped inside of Yuffie when she heard his depressed voice. She became angry all of a sudden. That Rinoa, she thought. She found her already much less nice, even though she had never seen her, especially since she made Squall so sad, but in fact, Rinoa had done nothing wrong.

Leon told Aerith the whole story, where he had been and how hard he had been searching under every rock in every damn planet. Yuffie secretly was a witness, but no one knew it.

Aerith tried, as best as she could, to give Leon some hope. Sometimes it seemed that she had enough courage and hope for all of them. It was truly remarkable. And it seemed to help too, because Leon lifted his head after a while and began to drink his tea. His face had no trace of tears to see, so he probably hadn't cried.

"So... what are you going to do now? Visiting other planets?" Aerith asked softly as she looked up at him.

Leon thought about this for a short moment and then shook his head slowly. "No."

She kept looking at him, demanding him with her bright green eyes to give her a proper explanation.

Leon went with his hand through his dark hair. "I think I'll take a short break now. If someone accidentally discovered a trace of her, which I highly doubt, then they'll call me surely. I'm now going to focus on my training and the Resistance."

"Ah. I think you really have deserved this vacation, Leon."

"Thanks," Leon mumbled. "Well, I think I'll go freshen myself up first."

Aerith nodded in understanding. "That's fine. Then I'll go get you something to eat in the mean time. I bet you're hungry after that long journey."

Leon said nothing, but got up slowly and walked straight to the door that led into the bathroom. That was the same door where Yuffie was standing behind at that same time. Yuffie was shocked when she realized he would see her and perhaps get angry with her because she sat behind the door, eavesdropping them.

_Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! What should I do now?_ she thought, completely in panic.

She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to her own bedroom. Leon just walked into the corridor when the door of Yuffie's bedroom, which was at the very end of the corridor, opposite the bathroom, fell closed with a loud bang. Leon knitted his eyebrows and walked slowly toward Yuffie's bedroom, while Yuffie ran to her bed and threw herself on her bed. She had just covered herself with the blankets, when Leon knocked on the door.

"Yuffie?"

Yuffie was just under the covers, considering whether she should answer or not, but Leon already flung open the door. Yuffie jumped at the sound. Her head and arms appeared slowly from under the blankets.

"Ye- Oh! Hi, Squall," she greeted with a sweet voice.

"It's _Leon. _What... are you doing?"

"What I'm doing? Can't you see that? I'm just uh..." Yuffie thought quickly for a response that she could give, without making him suspicious. After all, one should never wake sleeping dogs, right? "Eh... I'm sleeping."

Leon just raised an eyebrow, the disbelief practically dripping from his face. It was truly amazing how much sarcasm he could show by only using his eyebrows.

"What?"

"You forgot to wear your pajamas."

"Oh-" Yuffie looked down at the clothes she was wearing. Those were definitely not her pajamas. Damn. He was right. "So? I was just far too tired to wear my pajamas. I just fell onto my bed and fell asleep immediately. I bet that happened to you once too."

"Not really." Leon's facial expression remained the same. The silence said enough, though.

"Now what?" Yuffie exclaimed irritated.

She really couldn't stand his unpleasant, all saying silence. He was making her nervous and he seemed to know that very well.

"It's 3:30 pm..."

She could clearly hear some amusement leaping in his voice after his discovering. However, he could also be amused because Yuffie's face was as red as a beet.

"That was my beauty sleep. Aerith told me that sleep is very important for... people. Furthermore, I must get up very early every morning to improve my amazing ninja skills and I don't wanna be tired then."

"Right. Exactly what I thought. I would come up with a better excuse than that, if I were you. I'll leave now, I do not want to disturb your oh so important beauty sleep."

He turned to leave. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at his back.

"Act your age, Yuf."

"What? How did you know-"

She was so surprised that she didn't even realize that he had called her Yuf, something he _NEVER _did.

Leon turned around and said, sighing, "It's not that hard to understand what's going on into your head. You should face the truth, you're far too predictable."

He half turned again toward the door to finally go away, but apparently Yuffie had other plans. "Oh yeah? Do you expect this too?"

She shot forward like a little cannon ball and launched herself right in Leon's arms, who made an "Umph"-noise, while staggering backwards out of the room.

She gave him a firm hug, almost cracking his bones. He had to admit that, for a child of nine years, she was very strong. As he didn't really know what to do now, he patted her quite awkwardly on her back. Yuffie didn't mind at all, though.

"Welcome home, Squall!"

"My name is _Leon_... Eh, I think that's enough for now, Yuffie. I still have to freshen up and you must sleep, remember?"

Yuffie reluctantly let him go. Was it just her, or had he grown a lot since the last time she had seen him?

"And what have you done to your hair?" he asked.

"Oh that? I cut it. Well, actually it wasn't me who cut it. Aerith would kill me if I did it myself, because she liked my long hair, plus she thinks it's too dangerous, because I could also cut my ear in the process. But that didn't mean that she knew about it, because I did it secretly. I mean, I didn't do it, but-"

Oh boy, she was rambling again. Leon seemed to realize that too.

"Why?"

"Because it's getting in the way all the time. As a ninja, your eyes have to be uncovered, y'know, so you can always look around you and spot the bad guys to kick their as-"

"You could also just put your hair in a ponytail," Leon noted, interrupting the words that flew from her mouth like a cascade for the second time.

"Oh, but I know that. You thought I didn't know that? I think this is much cooler though. Plus, your hair is long enough for both of us, don't you think?"

Leon rolled his eyes, while she smiled her goofy smile.

"And I see you've lost some teeth too. You got into some serious trouble again, didn't you."

That last sentence wasn't a question, but more of a statement.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out to him again as a response. "Not funny!"

"I don't care."

And with those words, he left her room. All she did was stare at the now closed door, while hoping that he would come back again... which he didn't. When she realized this, she finally gave up and wondered what to do next.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ I hope it wasn't OOC, because Leon never seems to cry. And the reason that Yuffie dared to hug Leon, is because Yuffie is... Yuffie. Well, I think Cloud will show up soon, maybe after 4 or 5 other chapters. That will cause some serious chaos too...**

**Next chapter: It's a very long chapter and it's finished, it just needs to be betaed. The one who guesses how many words that chapter has, gets a virtual cookie. Leon's babysitting the hyper ninja. She can't sleep and asks Leon to tell her a bedtime story. We all know Leon; he doesn't really seem to like kids. Wondering why?**

**What do you think about all this? R&R please, so I know for the next time what I'm doing right and wrong.**


	10. Babysitting: Lion vs Ninja

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place a few days after Leon had returned to Traverse Town. L****ong chapters aren't really my cup of tea, but I guess I'm getting better and better at it! This chapter is quite long. Oh well, at least I had fun writing it and I hope you have just as much fun reading it. ;)**

**Okay, I've been rambling and exaggerating too long, so now I'll come to the point. Enjoy. :)**

**Thanks: KairiDestiny, HibouNoRyuu, dannielovessora, and SecretAgent99, my beta reader.**

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_~ It was a good thing that she didn't have a twin sister, though, because he didn't think he would be able to survive an evening with __two_ Yuffies. ~

* * *

With Leon's arrival, some things had changed for the people around him. Now that Leon was home more often, he was introduced to Yuffie's (for him) oh so funny (annoying) jokes and never ending hyperness soon enough.

She was strange in many ways. He called it 'strange in every possible way.' He never tried to be alone with her in the same room, because he was very sure - and scared! - that one of them may not survive. Sometimes it almost felt for Leon as if she wouldn't leave him alone before she had annoyed the hell out of him, with that everlasting goofy smile plastered on her face. And he was sure of the fact that she knew very well what she was doing.

Aerith had also decided to go look for a part-time job so it wouldn't get too hard for Cid, since he was the only one in this house who had a paid job. In Traverse Town, you were already allowed to work as soon as you became fifteen years old. Aerith always wanted to become a healer, which wasn't such a surprise to the rest, so the best place for her to start was the hospital, which was not far from their new home.

Yuffie was still too young to work. So instead of working, she went to school. There was a small school in Traverse Town. She didn't like it, but Aerith had insisted. It was that, or homeschooling from Aerith. Aerith somehow seemed to be slightly disappointed when Yuffie chose for the first option.

Leon's new job was to lead the Resistance and recruit new members for them. Fortunately for him, Cid had taken care of that for a little part when Leon was absent. The Resistance was a great success in everyone's eyes.

All in all one had to admit that Leon was a true and very talented leader. If he started talking, then everyone would immediately stop with what he or she was doing just to listen to him. When Leon said that something would happen, then it _would_ happen _exactly_ as he had planned. Nobody dared to contradict him, simply because he knew what he did and he was always right, about everything. There wasn't any reason to contradict him anyway, because everyone always seemed to agree with him. He had gained a lot of supporters.

There was a difficult word for this phenomenon, called charisma. Yuffie however, just thought he was charming. Who would _not_ listen to someone like him? He had you in his power with his eyes alone, especially when you were a young lady. He was _born_ to lead, and his looks also helped him a lot to gain exactly what he wanted.

Aerith was recently making long nights at the hospital. This was probably because she was new there. Everyone at home was sure that people made abuse of Aerith's kindness, as they always did. Would she know it herself? Probably not. She was far too naive to understand that.

And whenever Cid and Leon started about this little issue - they couldn't stand it that all those people made fun of her - then Aerith would interrupt them and assure them that that was not true, and wonder how they could possibly think of such a thing, but that she could really appreciate it that they were all so worried about her, even if it wasn't needed. That was the way Aerith was. Nothing more, nothing less. Now that Yuffie thought about it, she concluded that Aerith was far too good for this world.

Tonight Aerith also wasn't here. She went back to the hospital after dinner, because they had said that her help was much needed there... or something. That meant that Yuffie and Leon were all alone at home, for it was late at night and Cid had a shop to run. In one way or another, Cid had seemed far too happy that he could leave tonight. It had probably something to do with the fact that Yuffie and Leon were a dangerous combination when put together.

Aerith had insisted that Leon would baby sit Yuffie, but she hadn't said why. It was obvious, though. Cid wouldn't spare Yuffie if he had to baby sit her. Knowing Yuffie, she wouldn't spare Cid either, and torture him till he went all psycho. Leon had agreed reluctantly. Yuffie didn't know that though. Or maybe she didn't want to admit the truth.

Leon just hoped they would be back soon enough so he could be saved from this suffering, because the swordsman didn't like children at all. They were nosy and stupid. Well, maybe except when they were quiet and sleeping, so they couldn't do you and your possessions any harm as they always intended to.

Not liking them was even put quite mildly. Children were weak and some of them were even disgusting, in a disgusting way, not in a cute way. They didn't understand what was really important and they never listened to you. They kept nagging about everything, until you wanted to smack them, or often, in Leon's case, even worse.

It was a very good thing that he now knew how to control himself when he was around children. Besides, he was the head of the Resistance. He deserved better than that! Now he would be the laugh of the town, just because of Aerith. Nobody would take him seriously anymore when they knew that he was also a part time baby sitter.

"It's probably just for a couple of hours. See it as an opportunity to strengthen your self-control," she had said with a small, but tired smile.

Leon ground his teeth when he thought about that last sentence. Right. As if that was something to look forward to. The brunet swordsman didn't believe her at all when she had told him that this would probably be the first and last time he had to do such a foolish thing, but what else could he do than agree? She had looked so tired. And to finish it, she had showed those big pleading eyes, again! She just knew he couldn't stand that and always used that very same trick against him, Cid, and even Yuffie!

Well, he had to admit that Aerith really was a hard worker. She was baby sitting Yuffie all day, while cleaning the house and cooking for them. In the evening, when he and Cid finally came home from work, tired and hungry, she went to the hospital and returned home very late, often looking exhausted. She was even younger than him, so his respect for her had increased rapidly after he had realized all this.

It was a wonder that she still was herself, a smiling young lady, still full of hope and happiness, after everything she had been through. He thought he owed this to her, especially when he considered that being in the same room with Yuffie all day could make people do crazy things. Aerith obviously had a strong heart and a great stamina.

Yuffie wasn't allowed to go out in the evening, much to her dismay and Leon was just being his own boring self - as always -, with a capital "B." He didn't want to do anything fun to entertain Yuffie. He just sat there at that table, fiddling with a few dusty old documents that he had picked up somewhere from the attic or something. At least, that was what Yuffie thought. It made Yuffie sneeze when she came near the stack of papers. It was unknown to Yuffie what the hell he was doing and whether he was doing anything or just killing time by pretending to do something, because with Squall, one could never know for sure.

Occasionally, a frowning Leon looked up from his probably very boring work to see what Yuffie was doing and whether it was something mischievous - as always - or not, like this one time. After he was very certain that all her fingers were still connected to her hands, he would turn his attention back to his work. He said nothing to her, the whole time, almost as if he refused to speak, but every time their eyes met, Yuffie got a tingling feeling somewhere in her stomach.

This made her feel very uneasy and beyond crazy, because it felt as if his eyes were piercing right through her. She loved, but also hated that feeling. It really was killing. He was obviously oblivious to what impact he had on her. Maybe that was a good thing after all.

Every now and then, the silence of the room was disturbed by the rustling of the sheets of paper, or the scratching of Leon's pen (or the sound that Leon's brain made when he was thinking really hard). It was a beautiful and glistening black fountain pen with a silver lining and black ink. It was one that shone beautifully in the light, and was only intended for very important people with very important jobs. Leon's "name" was also written on it with silver, elegantly curled letters. Yuffie decided from then on that she would also buy such a pen when she got older. Maybe Aerith wanted to buy her one for her birthday if she pleaded enough.

"Squaaaall! You're so booooring!" she whined after a while, in an extremely childish voice, in an attempt to get his attention.

And it worked, well, sort of.

He actually only gave a sign that he had heard her. "Leon and thanks," he replied, without averting his gaze from the important document he was reading.

He had better things to do now, and he really hoped that she would realize this too by his attitude. He didn't know that this was false hope, though.

She came closer to him and stared inquisitively at the papers. "Whatcha doing anyway?"

"Reading," he simply answered.

She rolled her eyes at that. "Duh! But _what_ are you reading?"

"A document."

No, really?

Yuffie sighed wearily. As if she didn't see it. She wondered whether it was possible for him to say more than three words or not. It was at times like these that the young man annoyed her more than anyone here at home. Even Aerith was nothing compared to him. He was of no use when he acted like that. Unfortunately for her, he always acted like that when she was with him.

Of course, she had to admit that she couldn't really keep her eyes off of him, especially when he ran a hand through his long dark hair like that, (but then again, who could?). He just wasn't much of a talker. That was his weak point. That was too bad, though, for he had such a beautiful deep voice. It was very pleasant to the ears and she was sure that once he would tell her a bedtime story, she would fall asleep very fast. Maybe she should try that tonight.

"Hmm, sarcastic, aren't we?"

"..."

"You think you're very important, huh?" Yuffie began again, determined to make him say more than a few little words. What else did the man get a tongue for?

"Mmhm," he muttered, being completely absent.

He probably hadn't heard her at all. It didn't really surprise her anymore. It was definitely time for plan B.; changing the subject.

"Oh! You're hopeless!"

"..."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sooo bored here."

"..."

Leon didn't answer. She was clearly up to something, and he didn't want to support her.

"Do you know anything I can do to defeat this ever lasting boredom?" she said dramatically, using her arms to strengthen the dramatic effect, but with no success.

"..."

So she tried again, for she, the great ninja Yuffie, _never_ gave up that easily.

"Hellooo! I'm still waiting for an answer!"

"..."

Okay, if that was what he wanted, then she would take drastic measures now. Let's see if he still would refuse to speak after she was done with him.

"Do you want me to call you Squall again? 'Cause that's no problem with me at all," she asked, smirking.

Now he surely _would_ talk. She was sure about that. So sure that she even wanted to bet her favorite PJ's on it.

"Go to sleep."

Hah! She knew it. Okay, so maybe that wasn't exactly what she'd wanted to hear him say, but at least he had said_ something_, right? So she concluded that that was his other weak point; his fake name. That could be very useful information for Yuffie, because now she had him more in her power. She wouldn't get too enthusiastic, though. Yuffie Kisaragi's new mission was, Make Squalleon Talk.

"Now that's not very nice of you. And I meant something that's fun, ya know."

Leon said nothing. He wondered when she would finally keep her mouth shut. How did Aerith handle this every day? He should ask her for some advice. Maybe it would help if he ignored her some more, although that could also lead to the opposite. So whatever he did, he was losing the game, anyway. At least he could try it. He tried to concentrate on his work again, albeit it was quite hard, since Yuffie was gawking at him, her face very close to his. Too close for comfort, to be honest.

Apparently, Yuffie knew _exactly_ what he was up to, because the next thing she did was cry indignantly, "Squall, don't you _dare_ to ignore me like that! Who the hell do you think you are? The most important guy of town?"

Leon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. Apparently, it wouldn't work that way. Not if it was to Yuffie.

"Yuffie, my name is _Leon_. Just try to remember that for once."

"Why?"

She cocked her head slightly, waiting for the answer.

"Because..." He paused to think of a reasonable answer. When he couldn't come up with one, he just said, "...you have to."

"But _why_?"

Could it get any worse? He couldn't even get a little kid listen to him! Talk about being hopeless...

He suddenly grabbed a calculator and started to work furiously. Yuffie flinched and widened her dark chocolate-like eyes a bit. She was first a little bit startled by the sudden movement, but after a short moment she looked at how fast Leon was working with the calculator. Her mouth dropped open, being utterly surprised of the speed.

"Whoa, you type very quickly, you know?"

"..."

Well, he could type as quick as he wanted, but they both knew that he would never get away from her.

"What a talent! I'm jealous, cuz if I would do exactly the same, Aerith would think I was trying to bust that thing, or something. Maybe she would even get mad at me for doing that."

His lips curled slightly, as though that comment actually made him laugh, but he didn't want to show it to her. "That's because I have a better reputation than you, Yuf."

"As my new baby sitter you mean?"

Leon grunted at that. He probably hadn't expected to hear that. What was even greater was that even Yuffie didn't take him seriously thanks to his new job.

"No, I meant as the head of the Resistance."

"Oh, that? Yeah, that was definitely my second guess."

It remained silent for a while. They could only hear the tick-tack sounds of both the calculator and the clock through the small room. Yuffie searched for any emotions on his face, but his face looked neutral, except for the small frown, which was always on his face when he tried to concentrate. He really was good at hiding emotions. Or maybe he didn't feel anything at all at this moment. That would be strange, not to mention kinda scary.

She looked at his writing. "You know, for a guy, you have a pretty neat handwriting. I mean, have you ever seen Cid's handwriting? I didn't even know which alphabet he used at first. And yours is better than mine, too."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Leon?"

"Mm?"

"Maybe people's handwriting gets better when they're adults, but start to suck as soon as they get old and grumpy, like Cid."

Leon looked up from his work, to see if she was being serious or not. Apparently, she was, because she had never had a more serious expression on her face than she had now.

"Maybe... You have a peculiar logic, do you know that?"

Yuffie looked up at him. Her mouth dropped open again, the astonishment clearly written all over her face.

"What?" he asked, his voice completely monotone.

"Whoa! That was the first time you said something out of yourself! Yes, my logic is peculiar, but this is peculiarer!"

Leon raised an eyebrow. He couldn't really see what was so peculiar about that.

"That's not a word," he noted.

"Like I care."

Then the conversation was over...for now. He looked so...serious and grown-up. His behavior made him look much older than he actually was and that frown didn't make him look any younger, either. He looked at least 23 years old, but in fact he was...eighteen? In her opinion, he was far too young to act that old. Wars did strange things with people...

Yuffie thought of something else she could come up with, just to keep him talking. Anything was better than dying of boredom.

"Oh, I almost forgot..." Yuffie began again, "Why did you call me "Yuf" this time?"

Leon looked at her briefly, before he went on with his work, his frown growing deeper. Had he really called her "Yuf?" He hadn't even noticed it himself. She had been right, though. Why had he called her so? Was it because she had almost made him laugh with her comment?

"How do you want me to call you then? Brat, just like Cid always does?"

"No, but... You never call me just "Yuf." Normally you call me "Yuffie.""

He put his pen down with a small sigh, earning her a rather peeved look. "I call you Yuf when I think you deserve it to be called so."

"And when is that?"

"You're smart enough to find that out yourself."

After this, he picked up his pen again and now looked at the following page. Yuffie tried to think of an explanation of what he meant with that. That man was the mystery itself. Why was he always so vague, anyway? Did he act like that, just to attract women who like mysterious men? Maybe she would understand him more if she hung around with him some more. She could always try it and today was the right day to begin with it.

Making action of her words, she put the closest chair a bit closer to Leon's and sat down to observe Leon and his oh so precious documents. What was so exciting about them that he didn't want to pay some attention to her, anyway?

Leon's gaze slid inconspicuously to the clock, hanging on the opposite wall. "Okay, according to Aerith, it's time for you to sleep now. So get dressed quickly, brush your teeth and go to bed. No discussions."

"What? But I don't wanna sleep now. It's far too early!" she opposed him.

He sighed lightly. This was harder than he had thought. This had probably been another reason for Cid not to have kids at all.

"You wish. Look out the window if you don't believe me. The sky is pitch black. See?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes at that comment. Seriously, how old did he think that she was? She wasn't a child anymore! You couldn't trick her _that_ easily.

"Duh! The sky is always pitch black here, smart ass. Jeez, whose idea was it to make _you_ head of the Resistance? Oh never mind. It was Cid, of course. That says enough already, don't you think?"

"Yuffie, just go."

"Make me!"

Leon looked sharply at her. If looks could kill, then Traverse Town would be turned into ash at that moment.

"Okay, okay, I'm already going. Jeez, you don't have to be that mean! Man, even sleeping is more exciting than being with you in the same room, cuz you're no fun at all."

That was a lie. Aerith had told her that lying was a bad thing, but right now, she didn't really care.

She got up slowly and shuffled to her room. Leon himself was quite surprised that it went off so easily. Apparently that "taking-care-of-the-kids-stuff" wasn't as hard as he had expected, even if the kid was Yuffie, the "mother of all annoying children" he had to take care of. At least he now had finally time to move on with sorting the documents. He could continue working quietly for about half an hour.

Yuffie was clearly heard in the background, as she was singing her new gargle song while brushing her teeth. Leon let her do her own thing, albeit he was afraid of the mess he would soon encounter in the bathroom. Aerith said occasionally something about it. Not that it was of any use. Yuffie often only did what she wanted, without listening to others. Leon smiled a small smile at that thought.

After that half an hour of serenity, it got very quiet. Too quiet. Leon got the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched by someone...or something. He quickly looked up from his work, towards the pile of empty boxes, his hand automatically reaching out to the Retriever. It was false alarm, for Yuffie stood in the doorway, watching him quietly. Since when had she gotten so quiet? She made a rather nervous impression too.

When she didn't make an intention to speak, he asked her patiently, "What is it, Yuffie?"

"Um...well... I-I can't sleep," she mumbled.

He almost didn't dare to ask the next question, but he did so, anyway. "And what do you want me to do about that?"

At once, her face brightened up. Leon cringed inwardly. He knew very well what was coming next.

"Well, Aerith always tells me a nice bedtime story. And you know she'll get really mad at you if you don't do the same. I mean, as a baby sitter it's your duty to-"

"Fine," he interrupted her, while getting up.

Why did she have to remind him of his new job all the time? Yuffie's goofy smile reappeared on her face. She cheered in silence and grabbed his hand in the process. It surprised Leon, but he let her be. Her hand was small, soft and warm to the touch, exactly as it should be.

When they had reached her small bedroom, which she shared with Aerith, Yuffie hopped on her bed and looked expectantly up at Leon. She hoped that he would sit on the edge of her bed, but he took a chair instead and put it near her bed, wondering what story he should tell her, as he sat down.

"This is a story Ellone once told me, a long time ago. It's called 'Sleeping Beauty'. Do you know that story?"

Yuffie shook her head. The fact that Leon had talked about Ellone, his Sis, in front of her for the first time in her life, made her quite curious about the story. Leon closed his eyes for a very brief moment before he started, as though he could recall his memories that way.

"Once upon a time, there was a great and mighty kingdom-"

"What was the name of the kingdom?" Yuffie asked curiously.

"Eh, Fantasia. Well, the ruler of this kingdom was a very nice king-"

"Was it a kingdom full of happy people and without Heartless?"

Yuffie's questions took him off guard, but he tried not to show it. "Yes, it was a happy place with happy people and no Heartless. So this king, who ruled a kingdom full of happy people without Heartless, once gave a huge party - "

"Why did he do that? Did he like parties?"

"I was about to tell that, Yuffie. Don't interrupt me like that anymore."

"Oh. Okay. Sorry."

Leon sighed lightly. "It's okay, Yuffie... The party was because of the birth of his daughter-"

"He had a daughter? What was her name? Was she as cute as I am? Probably not, but maybe there's a small chance that..."

Yuffie fell silent when she saw that _look_ on his face. Yep, she had done it again. She had annoyed the heck out of him.

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Leon asked.

A trace of impatience could be heard in his voice. Yuffie snickered of amusement.

She thought pensively about it for a while. "Sure, Squall, but don't get mad now. And it better be good, or else..."

Leon sighed once again. It was quite hard not to get frustrated in situations like these. He'd rather fight off a thousand Heartless by himself than try to tell Yuffie a fairytale, because he knew the latter was much harder than the first thing.

"It's_ Leon_, Yuffie. Leon... Everyone was invited, except for one person."

"Her mother, the evil and bloodthirsty queen who was jealous of the beauty of her daughter?" Yuffie tried.

Leon looked annoyed at her.

"Sorry," Yuffie said, apologizing, "I'm just very curious and you're too slow with telling it. And that even didn't make any sense. I bet it was her jealous stepsister, right? Yeah, I kinda figured, since that was my second guess. It's always the jealous sister who ruins everything, right? Man, I'm so glad I don't have a sister."

Something in Leon's eyes changed the instant she had said that last sentence and it was then that Yuffie realized - too late - that Leon once had a sister, too, and that she'd been anything but mean.

"No, it wasn't her."

Yuffie looked disbelievingly up at him. "No? Then who the-"

"Her name was Maleficent."

"Who's Malef-"

Yuffie gasped, when realization hit her with the speed of the light. "You mean the same Maleficent who - who..."

Leon nodded sternly. "The very same."

"So... Is that why she's become such a mean old hag?"

"Who knows?"

From that moment on, Yuffie fell silent. She just listened to the story and closed her eyes. By the time he had finished the fairytale, Yuffie was fast asleep. Leon looked at her. She looked so peaceful. This way you couldn't see what she had been through at such a young age. He wondered how it was possible for her to still have her trademark, goofy smile on her face, even when she was sleeping like a baby. He, on the contrary, had not smiled for at least two years, since he had no reason to smile.

"At last. I thought she would never fall asleep," he murmured.

He got up and left the room, trying to be as silent as possible, so he wouldn't wake her up. He wasn't really in the mood to tell her another story to make her fall asleep.

* * *

Sometime after midnight Leon heard how a key was stuck in the lock. He had just finished his work and looked up at the door, expecting to see Cid, who still hadn't returned. He had probably just been waiting until he was sure that Yuffie had fallen asleep, so that he wouldn't have to deal with her and her antics. Leon probably would have done the same, if he'd been Cid, but it still annoyed him. It was Aerith who entered the house, though. She smiled as sweetly as always as their eyes met, but Leon didn't return the smile. Even his eyes didn't smile for him.

"Hi, how did it go?" she asked as she took off her coat and put her bag down.

Leon thought about it for a short while. He had to admit that it went pretty easy. He even almost enjoyed baby sitting her, in some sort of way. _Almost_, for Yuffie was still quite annoying. He wouldn't tell her, though, otherwise she would want him to baby-sit Yuffie more.

"Well, it was better than I had hoped. She sleeps like a baby. With you?" he replied.

She sighed lightly at this. "It was... okay."

Leon looked up at her tired face when he heard the slack. The tiredness and especially the light here in the room (she looked as pale as a blanket, maybe even paler!), made her look older, seventeen, maybe eighteen years old. She looked quite ill too, for they didn't have enough money to buy fruit and vegetables for every day. Leon just knew that it meant that it had been a rough night for her. He suddenly realized that Yuffie was not the only one who was still too young for this shit.

"I understand," he said.

"I think I'm going to sleep. Goodnight," she whispered.

Leon nodded silently. He'd better go and sleep as well if he didn't want to fall asleep at work tomorrow. That certainly was not something a true leader should do, because it showed weakness and that was bad.

"Goodnight."

He got up and followed her quietly, leaving just one little light on, for when Cid came home. It was very dark in the corridor. Leon could only see the shapes of things in the corridor, like the paintings on the wall.

When Aerith opened her bedroom door, he could see Yuffie's sleeping form. He could barely distinguish her from the darkness. A small smile, impossible for anyone to see and the first one since he had fled from Hollow Bastion, formed on his lips as a thought popped up in his head. It was impossible not to care about that carefree little ninja, even if she sometimes failed when she tried to cheer him up. It was a good thing that she didn't have a twin sister, though, because he didn't think he would be able to survive an evening with _two_ Yuffies.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^**

**Next chapter: About the next morning. Yuffie finds a new way to wake Leon up and annoy the living daylights out of him...with Aerith's permission? It's probably much shorter than this chapter, so no worries. :D**

**Do you have better ideas? Let me know. You can count on more moments where Yuffie's irritating Leon, though, 'cause I think that's fun. :)**

**What do you think about all this so far? Do you like long, or short chapters? What do you think that Leon meant when he said he would call her Yuff when she deserved it? Let me know. R&R please and make my day.**


	11. Sneaky little snake

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place a couple of hours after the previous one. Yuffie wakes Leon up in her own creative way, while making a scene to get what she wants from Leon. Let's meet the cruel and mean side of Yuffie Kisaragi!**

**Enjoy reading and let me know what you think of it! ;)**

**Thanks: KairiDestiny, dannielovessora and SecretAgent99, my beta reader.**

* * *

_~ Leon was lying motionless in his bed. Yuffie snickered. This was too good to be true. ~_

* * *

The next day Yuffie woke up quite early in the morning, although when she looked outside it still looked like it was night. It was almost depressing to her. She sat in the kitchen, along with Aerith and Cid. She hadn't been able to sleep that good like last night for...ages. She'd been a bit afraid that she would get nightmares of Leon's exciting story, though, but it fortunately hadn't happened.

Yuffie and Cid were at the table, eating. Aerith had finished her breakfast already and was now doing the dishes. She always did the dishes, for Cid was almost never at home and Leon was... Leon. There was no other explanation for that. It almost looked as though she didn't dare to ask Leon to do the dishes. Yuffie thought that Aerith maybe was afraid of him. But then again, Leon sometimes did look intimidating and his glares didn't reduce that fact.

When Yuffie glanced up at Cid's nearly empty cup of coffee, she got a brilliant idea. If Aerith just cooperated with her now...

"Aeri, could I have some coffee, please?"

To be honest, she'd always wanted to try it, but when she had asked her parents once, they had said that her heart wasn't strong enough yet to try it. She had wondered what that meant. Cid laughed, but pretended he was coughing violently when he saw the angry look on Yuffie's face.

"No, dear, that sounds like a bad idea to me. You're too young for coffee. Besides, you don't really need it, do you?" Aerith said.

"You and coffee? Hah! Do you want to become even more hyper just to make us crazy?" Cid snorted.

Yuffie pouted at that and put her hands on her hips. "Hmph. It doesn't even look that tasty, anyway."

"Then why bother trying it?" Cid asked again, before bursting out into laughter.

Yuffie just ignored him. The man could be so annoying sometimes.

"I don't understand why people actually like it. It's just like smoking, you're punishing yourself. Grown-up people are all weird and crazy and...weird in every possible way!"

Aerith just smiled and said nothing and Cid started to laugh even harder, muttering something about those "grown-up people." When he finished laughing, he poured the rest of his coffee into his mouth.

"I better get to work, before my customers start complaining about me always being too late. Hey brat, behave a bit, will ya, and be gentle with Aerith. Then you won't be punished by me when I come back," he said, ruffling the ninja's hair.

He got up and walked to the door. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at his back. Yes, but that was all she had. And he dared to call _her _immature. Unbelievable.

"Oh, I almost forgot..."

Cid turned and walked back to Yuffie, who wondered since when he had become so oblivious. Was he getting old, or something? Yuffie also noticed how Aerith stiffened a bit, but hardly a fraction of a second later there was nothing to see of that. What was wrong with everyone today?

"I think now you're finally old enough to learn to defend yourself. Aerith thinks differently about this, but times have changed. I have made something special for you. If you find someone who wants to train ya, you can pick the weapon up. It's in my shop," he said softly as his eyes were focused on Aerith's back for some unknown reason.

"Really? Oh, thanks, Cid," Yuffie whispered softly, smiling at the prospect of her becoming a tough ninja.

In her eyes appeared some little twinkling lights of excitement. She gave him a quick hug before he turned away from her and walked to the door.

"I'll see you guys tonight! See ya!"

"Bye, Cid," the two girls said in unison.

Once the door went shut, Yuffie began to speak, rattling like a waterfall. It almost felt like a daily routine, but every day she had something else to tell Aerith. And Aerith didn't mind at all for it really was interesting to know more about Yuffie's thoughts, even if they were pretty strange.

"It's kinda stupid that there is no sun here, right Aerith?" Aerith didn't even have the time to give her a proper answer, because Yuffie just went on. "You know what I think? I think that once we arrive in Hollow Bastion again, everyone will be dead scared of us when they see us, because we are all looking so pale by that time, because of the lack of sun, you see? They'll probably think we're vampires and-"

The plate Aerith was holding almost slipped out of her hands when she heard these shocking words. Yuffie immediately realized that she had said something stupid, again. Now she would start playing the worried mother again, just like always. Didn't she know that she was far too young to be a mother? Apparently not.

"Yuf, have you been reading horror books again? How often do I have to tell you that that's not a good idea? Especially not for someone like you. You'll only get nightmares and become paranoid," Aerith interrupted her, somewhat admonishing.

Yuffie waved it off with her hand, like it was nothing to worry about. "I haven't read anything, Aeri! Leon just told me a nice story, because he wanted to get rid of my nagging, or something like that," Yuffie lied convincingly.

She wanted to see how Aerith would scold Leon in her presence. That was his own fault, anyway. He should have paid more attention to her last night. This was what he got because he hadn't even listened to her.

Aerith gasped for breath, being utterly shocked at this revelation. "He did _what_? And I told him more than once that he should not-"

"Probably we should behave like vampires too, making them even more suspicious, for we must stay out of direct sunlight, because we aren't used to it and otherwise we will burn. Furthermore, our eyes will suffer from the light, so we should try to sleep at day, while we make the streets unsafe at night, hehe. Man, I really can't wait to go back!"

"Me neither," Aerith whispered softly.

There was a long deafening silence after that. Aerith tried to wash the plates that she hadn't washed yesterday, cleaning and scrubbing, while Yuffie quietly ate her cornflakes.

"Aeri, I've finished my breakfast. Can I wake up Squall now?"

"Yes, please do that. I've got my hands pretty full with these plates here. But do it gently, otherwise we'll see him all day with an irritated head, okay?"

Yuffie's smile widened in an instance. "Okidoki!"

She quickly got up from the table, almost knocking her own chair over, while casting a lot of unnecessary noise in the process and walked straight up to Leon's room. She stopped in front of the door, hesitating a bit. It was very important that she opened the door very softly, otherwise he would wake up immediately and then it wouldn't be fun for her anymore.

With bated breath, she opened the door bit by bit. Leon was lying motionless in his bed. Yuffie snickered. This was almost too good to be true. She tiptoed to his bed. His bare torso went slowly up and down in a slow, steady rhythm. That meant that he was still asleep, which was very nice, since everything went according to plan.

Wow, she had never thought that he was so muscular. Now that he wore no shirt for a change, she really could see it clearly. She found it almost a sin that she had to wake him. He looked so peaceful for once in his entire life. Especially his face was different now. She saw him for the first time without a frown on his face. He almost looked...cute, in a way. In her head she counted down slowly.

_Three..._

She couldn't wait to see that confused, maybe even shocked look on his face. Too bad she didn't have a photo camera, so she could take pictures of him.

_Two..._

Would he get mad at her? Maybe he would start to scream or something. Was this worth it? What if he didn't want to talk to her after this anymore? Would there be a way to make it up to him?

_One..._

Well, there was no way out of this anymore. This was it; the grand moment. She couldn't chicken out now!

"SNEAK-ATTACK!" she shouted loudly.

This made Leon wake up at once.

He immediately opened his eyes and half sat up, clearly shocked and confused at the same time. "Huh? What the-"

Yuffie then jumped on the bed and began to tickle his sides. Leon had barely time to react. He had already lifted his head, leaning on his elbows, but the force with which Yuffie landed on him, pushed him back automatically. He might have looked cold-hearted and sometimes even mean, but he had a big weakness. If there was something he couldn't stand at all, it was being tickled. His face was already red due to the effort of not trying to burst out laughing.

"Yuffie, stop it," he snorted.

That was the signal for Yuffie to tickle him some harder. Leon now roared with laughter. He rolled away from Yuffie in one quick move and pinned her hands quickly down above her head so she couldn't tickle him anymore. Being a little surprised, she blinked her eyes, clearly wondering how it was possible that he had captured her so quickly. Yuffie looked up at him, seeing her own reflection in his steel blue eyes. His dark chestnut colored hair hung around his face, pointing to all directions. He did look funny.

Leon was the first one who broke the almost deafening silence. "What are you doing in my room, Yuffie?"

He sounded very calm, almost monotone, but Yuffie knew that this was when he was in the most dangerous mood.

"Good Morning, Squalliekins! Have you been sleeping well?" she greeted cheerfully, ignoring his question.

"It's Leon, and yes, I have been sleeping very well, until you decided to wake me up like that. What do you think you're doing?" he answered, grumpily.

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked with innocent voice.

Leon rolled his eyes. "Quit playing games now, I'm being serious."

Now it was Yuffie's turn to roll her eyes. "You're _always_ being serious, that's nothing new to me."

Leon decided to ignore that comment for the time being. "Honestly, why did you do that? Don't you know it's very dangerous to wake people up in such a way? They can get a cardiovascular collapse, if you know what that is. Or is that what you want to happen to me?"

Yuffie's dark eyes grew slowly wide with shock, while Leon just squeezed his eyes together in suspicion. Did he even want to know what she planned now?

"N-no! Of course not! S-sorry, I really didn't know. Aerith just told me that I should wake you up. I didn't want to hurt you or anything, I just wanted to see you laugh or smile, even if it was just for once...you never smile in my presence...please don't be mad at me."

She looked away quickly. Her lower lip started to tremble. Leon began to feel guilty. What was he supposed to do if she would suddenly begin to cry?

He sighed, wondering what he should say to her. "Listen, I'm not mad at you. I just don't want you to wake me up that way... okay?" he asked patiently.

Yuffie looked at him again, obviously clearing up. "Okay, I'll wake you up differently from now on. But I must admit it was pretty funny to hear you howling with laughter. I guess I should do this more often now."

That last sentence she had said to herself softly, but Leon had heard her clearly. "And I also don't want you to tickle me like that anymore... It's very...annoying to say the least."

Yuffie tried to restrain her laugh. When she noticed that he was looking at her in that special way again, which always made her feel uncomfortable, she began to blush.

"Hey, Squall?"

"Yuffie, my name is Leon!"

"Yeah, yeah. But what I was going to say is um... I don't mind lying here like this, but eh, what are you going to tell Aerith if she walks in?" Yuffie asked teasingly.

Leon blinked his eyes once, before realization hit him. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

He quickly let her go and stood up slowly. He himself had totally forgotten that he was holding her down. Yuffie quickly got up, too. She was afraid that he had seen that she had blushed.

"I'm going to take a shower and change my clothes first and then come down."

"Okidoki! I'll let Aeri know...whoa, that rhymes! Awesome!" she chirped happily before she left the room.

Her footsteps sounded like hammers that were hit against boards. Leon shook his head. He still marveled at her energy. Where did she get it from every day?

* * *

Once he arrived downstairs, Leon saw that Yuffie sat at the table, accompanied by Aerith.

"Then I hope for you he'll say yes, although I doubt that. We all know- oh!"

Aerith stopped mid-sentence, which made Yuffie turn around. The conversation they were having immediately seemed to fall silent when they noticed him. Leon raised a dark eyebrow, just looking at the two of them. Aerith just smiled, but Yuffie quickly looked away, something she did a lot lately.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning, Leon. Do you want some tea?"

"Uh, only if there's no more coffee left," he replied.

"Coffee? You, too? Ugh! I really don't get you!" Yuffie complained.

She rose from the table and waddled back to her own room.

Leon raised another eyebrow as well and looked at Aerith. "What was_ that _all about?"

"I think she's a little bit angry, because she's the only one at home who's not allowed to drink coffee," Aerith said, chuckling slightly.

Leon just shook his head. Some people were really incomprehensible. Yuffie undoubtedly belonged to that group of people. He hadn't even started breakfasting when a smiling Yuffie walked in again.

"Wow, you changed very quickly from mood. What happened?" Aerith wondered.

"Squ-I mean, Leon? May I ask you something?" Yuffie asked.

She decided to call him as he pleased this time, because she had only one chance to get his approval.

"..."

"Leon?" she tried once again.

"Do you have to?"

Aerith coughed once softly, to indicate that she thought he was extremely rude. Leon sighed, getting annoyed again. He began to suspect that this could be the issue that they were discussing before he had entered the room.

"What do you want now?"

"Well... Cid has made a weapon for me and I can't get that weapon until I've found someone who wants to teach me how to fight properly. So, now I was wondering if you could, uh...umm... would you like to be my teacher? Pretty pretty please?"

She started to use the pleading puppy-eyes again, but Leon wouldn't fall for it this time. "No."

He didn't even have to think about it.

"B-but, why not? Am I too small for you? I'm not a kid anymore! Even Aerith agrees at that point!" she exclaimed indignantly.

"Don't exaggerate so much," he muttered annoyed.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Leon, if you don't teach her, then who wil-"

Aerith stopped talking when she heard a soft but heartbreaking sobbing. She and Leon turned almost at the same time to Yuffie to look at her. Yuffie had put her hands over her eyes and was clearly crying. Her shoulders were shaking violently and suddenly she looked so young and fragile. Almost as young and fragile as she was at that horrible night that she had left Hollow Bastion along with the others, fleeing from the Heartless.

"Oh, Yuffie!" Aerith cried, shocked.

She still remembered how broken she had looked at that time. She gave Leon a somewhat reproachful look, that more or less said, "Look what you did now!"

Leon did nothing. There wasn't much he could do or say at this time, anyway. Aerith could handle this situation without his help.

"You hate me, don't you? That's why you don't want to teach me, right? I bet that if it were possible, then you would never even want to see me again. Don't think I'm too stupid to see the truth, just because I'm younger than you. You made it very clear to me yesterday that you don't think I'm worth your time. You did nothing to make me feel comfortable. You've never even smiled at me, not even in the past two years, when I tried to make you feel better! I've always wanted to have a big brother, like you. I have always looked up to you, while you act always mean and cold and-"

At this point her voice broke, so she couldn't continue talking. Aerith stood immediately below Yuffie and held her in her arms, while trying to comfort her as much as she could.

"Please don't think that way, Yufs. Leon will certainly teach you how to fight, for he doesn't hate you at all, right, Leon?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye, almost forcing the right answer out of him.

Leon bowed his head. He felt so guilty that he muttered a quick "Yes."

He looked at Yuffie. He had never thought he could do her so much pain with just dismissing her as an apprentice. Yuffie looked from under Aerith's arms at Leon. To his amazement he saw that she stuck her tongue out at him, when she saw that he was looking at her too and then she quickly looked away from him. Aerith hadn't noticed anything, as usual.

It took Leon only a split of a second to realize what just had happened.

_That sneaky little snake!_

She had put it all in scene, just to get her own frickin' way! She would pay for this. He suddenly remembered that his father, a mighty warrior, had once told him long ago that women had 76 different funds that she could use against men, but that the tears were her most dangerous weapon. Apparently Yuffie had already discovered that. Oh, she really was bad!

"Why don't you put on your coat, so you and Leon can go to Cid together to get your new weapon? It's pretty cold outside and I don't want you to go alone with all these Heartless lurking outside. Then I'll let Leon know of what I think are practical exercises for you to learn," Aerith suddenly said.

Yuffie looked at her in quasi-amazement and slowly wiped her tears away. "Really? O-okay. If that's what you want," she replied, still trembling slightly.

She turned and slowly shuffled to the coat rack by the front door. She flashed Leon a devilish grin and winked at him when she moved past him. Leon just frowned, narrowing his eyes and thinking, _'Just wait till you have to do what I say when we'll be training. Let's see if you'll still be able to smile then...'_

"Aerith, do you realize that she's a danger to herself and everyone around her? And you want me to train her to become even more dangerous? Do you have any idea what you just have suggested? Don't you think this world is already in enough trouble without her participating?"

"Leon, give her a chance. She's doing her very best, if you haven't noticed yet. I'm afraid I can't say the same of you, you know. Moreover, you're the only one I entrust this task."

Leon ran his hand through his hair and thought about the situation. Aerith probably wouldn't believe him when he said that Yuffie wasn't as good and pure as she always thought.

"Fine, but don't expect me to sacrifice all my time to her," he muttered petulantly.

After saying this, he left the room, almost knocking Yuffie over, who came back to Aerith and hugged her intently.

"Thanks, Aeri! I love you!"

Aerith smiled. "Anytime, Yufs. I love you too."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ ****R&R, please!**

**Next chapter: Another time where Leon's babysitting our favorite ninja, who's...scared of monsters in her closet and under her bed?**


	12. Guardian

**A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one-shot, which takes place seven years before KH1 and a few weeks after "Sneaky Little Snake." So Yuffie's still nine years and Squall's 18. I mean Leon. Now on with the story. Enjoy reading! ;D**

* * *

_~ He replied with the only and most logical answer he could think of at that moment, "It's Leon." ~_

* * *

How was it even possible? Leon didn't know anymore. Had he been put under a spell? Had he been drunk? Everything could have been possible. It was beyond his imagination how it all had happened, just like that.

This was the second time he was tied to babysit that little hyperactive monster, which happened to irritate him immensely (both the task and the hyperactive monster if you were wondering). He was beyond frustrated. He had no idea how Aerith managed to do so, but at one point he stood almost literally with his back against the wall so he had no choice but to say yes.

He started to wonder how it was possible that Cid was always absent when Aerith needed a babysitter for Yuffie again. How did he know when he shouldn't come home? He had to ask the man about it, because Leon was always forced to do things he didn't want to and he was sick of it! He'd rather fight a thousand Heartless all alone than babysit such an annoying...thing (he knew no other word that was less offensive to describe the girl).

To add insult to injury, Aerith hadn't had the time to prepare something for them for dinner, which meant that Leon had to do it for him and Yuffie. He didn't quite remember how he managed to do so, but thank god Yuffie had been pleased enough with it to try it.

After she had tried the macaroni (one of the few things Leon could prepare), she had even said something like, "Wow, Squall! This is actually really good! Almost as good as Aerith's cooking. I didn't know you were such a good cook."

That had pretty much caught him off-guard, although his face stayed the same; expressionless.

He had replied with the only and most logical answer he could think of at that moment, "It's Leon."

She had sighed wearily, looking him straight in his steel blue eyes without blinking. He didn't know why, but her intense gaze had made him a little uncomfortable.

"You know, a simple 'thank you' would really have sufficed here. I guess you'll never get tired of repeating that one sentence, huh?"

He had shrugged. "I have no choice, Yuf."

The evening had passed very fast. Yuffie had ensured to talk his ears from his head, but miraculously enough, he had been able to tune it all out. Years of practice made perfect, right? Before he knew it, it was already eight o'clock, which meant that it was time for Yuffie to go to sleep.

This time, she had actually listened to him when he had told her so. Of course, he still had to convince her why she should go to sleep this early (the "Look, it's all dark outside"-trick wouldn't work, so he had to think of something new), but at least it hadn't been as hard as the first time.

He was slightly entertained by her famous (Well, for him it was more notorious, because it sounded incredibly off-key. One would think that people who can't sing wouldn't actually do so in public, but Yuffie somehow didn't feel embarrassed at all and was clearly an exception.) gargle-song again.

After brushing her teeth and changing into her remarkable pajamas, which had taken her thirty whole minutes, she had come back to him to give him a soul-crushing hug and wish him a good night, much to his dismay. He let her run amuck, though, because he didn't have the energy to start another argument with her at this time.

Then she had finally gone and left him alone, so he could continue with... doing nothing actually. Today had been the only day he had taken off. Spending it this way hadn't exactly been what he had had in his mind. He should thank Aerith for that one too.

He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and knowing fully well that he wouldn't fall asleep with so many thoughts that kept bugging him like musquitos. It didn't matter. He felt a terrible headache coming up after that pinching, so he stopped it, grunting softly.

He didn't know what made him do it, but suddenly, he opened his eyes again, only to see Yuffie standing beside him, clad in her favorite navy blue pajamas with pink moogle faces on it. He blinked, surprised, although his face didn't show any emotion. She blinked too. He blinked once again. She copied his actions.

"Boo," she greeted him softly, looking paler than a couple of minutes ago.

He quirked a thin, chestnut-colored eyebrow at her. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"..." She didn't answer him and looked at her feet instead.

"Yuffie?"

Now he started to worry about her a little. It was nothing for her to stay silent like this, he had already learned that much from staying here. He shifted from his position from the chair he was sitting on when she finally looked up again.

"I'm... scared," she whispered, her dark eyes becoming as big as saucers.

That answer earned her a frown. "For what?"

She didn't raise her voice when she whispered a reply, "For all those monsters under my bed and in my closet. I can't sleep when they're staring at me like that and laughing soundlessly at me for no particular reason. I know for sure that as soon as I dare to close my eyes, they'll attack me and eat me alive. Monsters like little children, especially when they're scared to death. That's what Cid said after I told Aerith about his secret liquor cabinet above his shop."

"What?" he whispered back.

He hadn't intended to speak as soft as she had done, but something that he saw in those big chocolate colored eyes of her, made him do so. Once again, she had managed to make him more confused than ever.

This was just great. Now he also had to deal with a child who was scared of imaginary monsters in her bedroom, because of what that grumpy man had told her as revenge. Someone up there really had to hate him for putting him through all this.

"Yuffie, listen," he said, sighing. "There are no such things as monsters...in your closet or under your bed. Cid only said that because he was pissed of what you-"

"Monster or not, I'm not going back there."

She crossed her arms to emphasis her words. Leon sighed. This was getting ridiculous.

"Do you want me to check your room to kill those _monsters_?"

She quickly shook her head and her eyes became even bigger than they already were. "N- no! I'd rather stay here, where it's safe. I don't want you to risk your life, because then I'll be here all alone. Plus Aerith's gonna be pretty mad at me then."

Just when he had thought that things wouldn't and simply _couldn't_ get any worse, something like that had to happen of course. He felt like beating the crap out of Cid right now. Scaring little children, he sure was feeling brave these days.

"But... I have two problems, 'cause I also can't sleep, so could you tell me a story, please?" she asked, looking up at him to meet his cold gaze.

The answer was written in his eyes and it was clear enough for her to change her tactics. It was time for the "puppy-eyes."

"Pretty pretty please? Sugarcoated and all?" she tried again.

"Wish I could, but I'm afraid I can't. I don't know any other stories to tell you. My mother only told me that one story that I already told you the other day, because it was my favorite," he lied rather convincingly.

Obviously, his mother had told him more stories a long time ago and he still knew them by heart, but telling fairytales was the last thing he wanted to do now. He didn't like these stories anymore. They were fake and wouldn't come true, especially not for someone like him.

"Oh, but that's okay. The old man Merlin, you know, the one who lives in the Third District, paid us a visit yesterday to bring me a book, so you can read that one for me, okay?" she chirped. "I'll go and get it. It's in the kitchen."

She ran away. He didn't question what that book was doing in the kitchen and why it wasn't in the bookshelf like it should be. Then she came back into view again, while holding something in her small hands. He saw it was a book indeed. Just great.

"Here." She handed him the book and started to pull him by his arm.

"Yuffie, if you're trying to pull my arm out of the socket, then I'd like to tell you that I still need this one to defeat the Heartless."

And the monsters in your bedroom, he added in his head, sarcastically.

She stopped pulling his arm to look at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Duh! The only place where we can sit both comfortably, without falling and getting hurt when one of us moves around, is the bed, so come _on_!"

He sighed, getting up and following her to the large bed with green covers at the corner of the room they were in. Once they had both seated themselves, Leon looked at the book again. The title was "Cinderella." That sure promised to be a long and boring story with a damsel in distress. Again.

He sighed wearily, realizing that the only way to get over with this, was just telling the story for her. He had no choice, because if he didn't, then Yuffie would be sure to tell Aerith about it, who would bite his head off. Figuratively speaking, of course, because fortunately, Aerith wasn't able to do something like that. She probably wouldn't do it even if she could have done it, anyway, but that was beside the point now.

He opened the book on the first page, where the story began. "Okay, so the story's called Cinderella. Once upon a time there was a young, beautiful girl..."

He noticed that Yuffie had moved a bit closer to him, so she could see the sketches, resting her head on his right arm. At first he stiffened slightly, smelling her shampoo with appel fragrance, but then he continued, trying not to sound too monotone. He figured that it wasn't as bad as he had thought at first. At least this had shut her up for a short while.

* * *

Almost two hours later, Aerith and Cid came home at the same time. Aerith was the first one who stepped into the Small House and found Leon and Yuffie, sitting on the bed and sleeping like a baby next to each other with their backs leaning against the wall.

She saw that Leon was holding a book in his hands. It was open on the last page. Coincidentally enough, his index finger was pointing at the words _"And they lived a happily ever after." _This sign just made Aerith smile sweetly.

"Where's that brat an-"

"_Shh!_" Aerith said, turning at him.

Her eyes glistened a bit.

She pointed at the two sleeping forms. _"Isn't that just sweet?" _she whispered, still smiling.

_"More like surprising. I wanna see his face when he wakes up tomorrow. Mark my words, he's gonna be as stiff as hell for the rest of the week," _Cid responded.

Aerith shook her head. She ignored his muttering and took the book from Leon's hands, closing it and putting it on the big table. Then she went to another room. When she came back again, she held a thick, folded, dark brown blanket in her arms.

She tugged them in as gently as possible, so they wouldn't wake up. Leon stirred slightly, but he didn't open his eyes. Instead, he put an arm around Yuffie's shoulders, as though he was trying to protect her for something. They both remained fast asleep till the next morning.

* * *

Some hours later, Yuffie was the first one of the two who opened her eyes. Rubbing them, she smelled the faint fragrance of some eau de cologne, from which she knew that only one person in this house used that one. Her heart skipped a beat or two after that realization.

Wait, she wasn't in her room and she also wasn't alone here. She turned and almost got a heart-attack at the sight. Squall was there next to her, still asleep. He had that peaceful expression on his face again. The one that she wouldn't be able to spot on his face when it was day. It was always night here in Traverse Town, so this should obviously be taken figuratively.

When she looked at the clock, she saw that it was almost 7:00 am. Seeing that it was far too early to wake him up, she decided to close her eyes again and try to sleep some more. And wow, his shoulder served as a perfect pillow. It was made for her head to rest on. Who in the world would've thought that?

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ Reviews are highly appreciated! :) (Hint, hint, hint)**


	13. Arguing

**A/N: I only own this story-idea. This one-shot takes place four years after the previous one. Yuffie is 13 years old and Leon 22. It's also three years before the events of KH1. Just in case you were wondering. ;) Enjoy! :)**

**Thanks: SecretAgent99, my beta reader! :)**

* * *

_~ Then they began to lick his face, something he regarded as rather unpleasant. ~_

* * *

Yes, he had done it once again, without any problem from his side. How it had happened, he didn't exactly know. It just had happened. At the moment, he had had absolutely no regret. Yuffie would surely come back home, her eyes twinkling while grinning like an idiot as if nothing had happened at all, for she always did. Each time it was the same: Leon and Yuffie started quarreling, first innocently but it would change into fighting very quickly and then Yuffie would angrily run out of the house and come back after one hour...or two...sometimes three or four, but never this long.

He had to admit that the argument had been more violent this time, though. He also felt for a short moment, when she had looked very fierce, that she would definitely pierce his throat with her shuriken. She hadn't done that, though, much to Leon's surprise. All she had done was ball her fists with tears in her eyes, saying that she sometimes hated him so much that...

Leon sighed, frustrated. Aerith had looked at him several times now. She probably wanted him to go search for Yuffie. She wished! He really had enough of the ninja with her antics. Actually, the fight had begun slowly and very early in the morning. It had been a built-up fight. They both had just had a tough day and that fight had been the climax.

It had all started in the early morning, when she had awakened him, much to his dismay. He had been dead shocked when he had opened his eyes that morning. He had looked straight into two dark brown pools, which had stared sharply at him, without blinking and had been at less than two inches away from his stormy eyes! He had shot up faster than an arrow. Yuffie had drawn back even faster than him, startled by the sudden movement and blinking quickly twice.

"Yuffie!" he had brought out shocked.

"What?" she had asked surprised.

At first he wanted to ask what the hell she thought she was doing, but then he had changed his mind. He'd rather not know the answer, for he had a presumption.

"Don't do that!" he had stammered as a response, as soon as he had regained control over his own voice.

"Sorry. I was just-"

Leon had run his hand through his now messy hair, which had become quite a habit of him. He always did that when he didn't know what he had to do or say, or when he was confused. Yuffie hadn't finished her sentence. Maybe she had decided that it was better for both of them to keep it that way.

"It's...okay, I guess. Just...go tell Aerith I'll be down soon."

She had hopped off of his bed she had been sitting on.

"Okay."

At the door she had just stood still and Leon had looked up after a while when he hadn't heard any movement. Yuffie's eyes had been glued to his torso. She had remained standing there and made no intention to leave the room. Leon had raised an eyebrow at that, being quite annoyed. He was so not a morning person. Yuffie's antics did not change one thing about that.

But when Leon couldn't take it anymore (was she really enjoying what she was seeing?), he remarked sharply, "Yuffie, were you planning to leave this room today? 'Cause I still want to change clothes. Unlike you, I have more things to do today."

Yuffie had finally looked at him, starting to blush madly. "Oh! Sorry! I-I'm going now."

With that, she had left the room quickly. The ninja had become a total mystery for him. Some of her actions had become unpredictable.

But to add insult to injury, she had dropped hot coffee on his favorite white shirt, which, obviously, wasn't that white anymore after that. It hadn't only been a waste of his shirt, but she had also burnt him. That was another reason for him to become furious at her. She had just mumbled apologies, while he couldn't stop himself from shouting at her. The only reason he had stopped was because Aerith had looked at him sharply, indicating that it was enough.

Furthermore, the training hadn't been that great, either. Yuffie hadn't been herself lately and Leon had demanded to tell him what was wrong with her. She had once again turned red like a tomato and had the demand somehow circumvented, like only she could do. Leon had also not asked any further, dropping the subject. Maybe it was better not to know.

And then she had had the guts to call him, "Squall."

"For the last time, Yuffie, my name is _Leon_! How often do I have to tell you before it gets through your think skull? Seriously, how stupid can you be?"

Thus, the quarrel had begun. Yuffie had tried to make him feel guilty by saying that he hated her and always just picking on her. That he never said anything nice about her and that she got all the blame for everything. Even for things she had never done, and so on.

"Oh, are you playing the poor miserable girl on me again? Will you cry now? Don't think that that will help again, since Aerith's not around."

Then she said how much she hated him sometimes. Leon had to admit that it had hurt to hear that.

"Leon?"

Aerith's sweet and soft voice interrupted his reverie. He looked at her inquiringly and somewhat disturbed, with a look that clearly said, "What do you want from me now?"

Aerith, as nice as she was, just ignored that look and told her what was wrong in her eyes. "She's still not back yet and it's almost twelve o'clock at night. She hasn't eaten anything. It's nothing for her to stay away until late, without having eaten."

The concern was practically dripping from her voice. It was unfair that he was the only one who had to do this much for the people in the house, just to keep them a bit happy, he thought bitterly. She was right, however. Yuffie and not eating were an impossible combination.

"I'm going already," he grumbled.

He did it mainly because he had finally chance to escape from her gaze. Okay, maybe he did it also a little bit, because he really was worried about Yuffie. That was something she would never find out, though.

He got up reluctantly, took his Gunblade with him and walked straight out of the house, changing the warm safety into the chilly wind outside. This would certainly be a long night...or rather day, because it was already after midnight...whatever. It was a good thing that the streets were all deserted, for he was definitely not in a mood to talk to anyone.

* * *

"I'm so jealous of you two. You are so lucky! You both love each other and have clearly already found your great love of life." Yuffie scratched Pongo absent-mindedly behind his ear. "I mean, what's his friggin' problem anyway? Why does he always have to be so harsh and mean? Why can't he say something sweet about me, for a change? How hard is that? I really don't get him, you know that?"

Pongo barked loudly.

Yuffie sighed. "Man, I really wish you could talk. Then at least I had someone to talk to. Cid only scolds me, Aerith belittles me all the time, because she's such a know-it-all. And Squall...well, he's just so...so...ugh! I'm not even allowed to call him by his real name! Doesn't that say enough already? And then _he's_ got the guts to call _me_ abnormal and childish? Can you believe it? Ugh, sometimes I really can't stand him!"

Perdita looked at her with an angled head.

"Oh, never mind already. I'm probably just boring you with my story."

Pongo licked her cheek twice. It tickled slightly.

Yuffie smiled briefly. "Aww, I think you're very sweet too. Hmm, I wonder if he will find me here. I think he's never been here before."

* * *

"Yuffie, where are you?" he muttered, getting pretty worried by now.

He had searched the whole town three times, without any positive result. Where could she be? Had she already gone back home? No, Aerith would have called him then, right? Unless she had forgotten it. No, that was impossible. Aerith never forgot anything. It would have been more possible that Yuffie had turned into a cat or something, than that Aerith had forgotten something.

Another thought that occurred to him, almost made his heart stop. What if a Heartless had killed her? She was only thirteen years and not really experienced in fighting. If there had been many then she probably would have had no chance against them. Deep in his heart he hoped that that hadn't happened. It just couldn't be true.

He came to the conclusion that there was only one thing that he could do now: he would have to knock on everyone's door and if that failed, call the Resistance to help him with the search. He decided to start with that big door in the Second District. Through the frosted glass in the door, he saw that the lights were still on, so the owners of the house were still awake.

He wondered who would live there. He had never seen the residents, he was sure of that. He wanted to knock on the door, but as soon as he touched the door it opened, for it had been ajar. Reluctantly he opened the door a little wider, until he could look inside of the house. The house seemed to be empty, though.

"Hello?" he cried loudly.

No answer. Surprised, he got into the room and shut the door behind him. He head that suddenly two dogs began barking loudly, followed by a voice which cried and the pattering of feet. A door was flung open and two large Dalmatian ran right toward Leon, their big pink tongues hanging from their mouth. One had a red collar and the other one a blue one.

"Uh-oh."

He reacted a little bit too late, probably because of the lack of sleep. Both dogs jumped on him at once, so he toppled over and fell on his back. Then they began to lick his face, something he regarded as rather unpleasant.

That was when he remembered again that the residents of Traverse Town often mentioned the Dalmatians, because the two dogs were the newest residents of this town. He pushed the dogs away from him with some difficulty and quickly scrambled to his feet, while looking around. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw who was also there.

"Haha, I think they like you," Yuffie noted, laughing merrily.

"Yuffie!" he cried out surprised, even though nobody could notice that from of his almost monotone voice. He sounded more like he was getting mad, again. "How long have you been here?"

"Ever since I left the house. What are _you_ doing here?" Yuffie asked quite coolly, crossing her arms over her chest. Apparently, she hadn't forgotten her arguing with him so far.

"Everyone has been looking for you for quite a long time, but I can see that you don't care at all."

He actually only meant himself when he said "everyone." He simply couldn't believe that he had done all that searching for nothing.

Yuffie narrowed her eyes a little bit. "If you've come to quarrel again, then I want you to leave immediately, Squall."

"That's Leon," he said automatically, and then he quickly added, "And no, I'm not here to argue with you."

He looked around. He had ended up in a large room. Everything was still in good condition. It was so light and cozy here. There were a blue and a pink carpet, two lamps, a TV, a low table, a comfortable-looking sofa and many paintings hanging on the walls of the room.

He looked back toward Yuffie, who was sitting on her knees on the ground. She gave all her attention to the two dogs. Her eyes twinkled again, just like before. She looked so cute with that smile on her face. Sometimes she seemed like a little child, much younger than she actually was. Her large dark eyes and short cut hair seemed to strengthen that effect. Wait, why did he think that all of a sudden? It made no sense at all.

"Aaw! Look how cute they are! Leon, can we keep them?"

She startled Leon, who looked at her. Oh no, she used those pleading puppy eyes and her "cuteness-factor," as she called it herself, on him, again. She was not the only one. The two Dalmatians were doing the very same. Great. Like it hadn't been hard enough to bear with her eyes alone.

He had also noticed that she had called him by his preferred name this time. That could only mean one thing: she really wanted to keep the two dogs.

"No," came the simple reply.

"Please?"

He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a long-suffering sigh, wondering why he had to be the only one who always had to handle these kind of situations. "No."

"Why not? They're very useful for...research and stuff. I'm pretty sure that even someone like you can get attached to them."

"No. I don't think that's a good - wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

Yuffie ignored his question. "But they can't live in such a big house, all on their own! They just lost their 99 kids, who are probably all scattered in different worlds!"

"N-what?"

His gaze slid to the dogs, who suddenly looked very miserable, as if they knew exactly what Yuffie was talking about. Their head hung downwards and they both continued to look at their paws. Leon went with his hand through his long dark locks once again. He didn't want to upset the young girl. Yuffie could conclude with this that she had almost convinced him.

"Yuffie, look... I don't think Aerith is going to like that, to be honest. She has enough things to do for the three of us. And you know Cid, don't you? I think they are the safest here."

"Oh... okay...if you say so."

Yuffie looked truly broken now. Leon tried to think of a way to cheer her up again. In one way or another he always got a sick feeling when he saw Yuffie so sad.

"But...you can always come and visit them here. They just sleep somewhere else as you."

Yuffie's mood lightened up again. "Yeah, you're right! Thanks, Leon."

She jumped at him and instinctively gave him a hug. Once she noticed what she was doing, she let go of him quickly, as if she had received an electric shock. Leon wasn't unaware of the fact that she had called him by his new name for the first time, without having a special meaning with it.

"So...it's okay again between us?" she asked earnestly.

She didn't look at him when she asked it. It seemed that suddenly her shoes had become a lot more interesting.

"It was never different between us," he said.

This ensured that her heart nearly flew out of her chest with joy, and she grinned her Yuffie-like grin again. "Okay! Goodnight Pongo. Goodnight Perdita. I love you two!"

Once she had finished hugging the dogs, she got up and walked out the door. Leon followed her quietly. The two Dalmatian barked their guests goodbye with wagging tails.

Yuffie at once had her old energy back. "Say Squall?"

_"Leon."_

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that."

"It's...fine."

"So, how did you know where I was?" she asked curiously.

"I didn't. It was coincidence."

"Oh... I thought you didn't believe in coincidence?"

Leon looked up at her, trying not to show his surprise. How did she know that? He hadn't told her that.

"No, I don't," he admitted.

"Do you think Aerith is mad at me for showing up this late?"

No, she probably only was sick of worries, but he just couldn't let this moment pass by.

"Yes, she's furious. You will be grounded for two weeks."

"What?"

"At the least..."

"I'm off!"

Yuffie tried to run away, but Leon's reflexes were much faster. He grabbed her upper arm, so she couldn't skip away like that again. One drama a day was enough.

"No, you're not. You're going with me, whether you want it or not."

"Hah! Make me! I'm not going anywhere!"

"That's what you think."

With that, he lifted her with both hands and put her over his right shoulder.

"Hey! Put me down! Squall!"

"No. And call me Leon."

"Will you put me down again if I do that?" she asked hopefully.

"No."

"SQUALL!"

She struggled in an attempt to free herself from his grip, but without any success. It was a good thing that she was so light.

With Yuffie on his shoulder, he continued his way back home, fully ignoring Yuffie's shrieks, "let go of me, you big mean meanie!"

Leon rolled his eyes at that.

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Yuffie eventually decided to give up. He was so strong headed, he wouldn't listen anyway.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**

**This is probably the last pre-KH1 one-shot for this series...for now. I think I'll start writing another series of one-shots about the Restauration Committee, though, which will be set during KH2 and later. I'm not really sure about that yet.**

**Oh and eh...reviews, please? I miss them! :)**


	14. Yuffie's Lost Letter

**A/N: So sorry for the slow updates! I've never been this busy in my life before... I can still remember how I started experimenting with the whole Squall/LeonxYuffie pairing in this collection and tried to get everyone in character. At least I improved (or that's what I like to think). XD And I'm still in love with this pairing. My 100th story was a Squiffie, too. If that doesn't say enough already... XD ****Anyways, this still takes place near the end of KH1, before they go back to Hollow Bastion. You get bonus points if you can catch the Harry Potter reference. Enjoy! :)**

**Thanks: dannielovessora, KC-Chan13, PrismRain13, thedoggydog2, and M. L. Ayala, my beta reader.**

* * *

_~ "For the last time, if you don't stop yer constant yellin' right now I'm gonna-"_ ~

* * *

The ex-pilot let out a highly frustrated cry that frankly sounded more like a snarl, almost scaring the shit out of his customer, who quickly paid for the items that he needed and left the two bickering figures alone. The people in Traverse Town knew these two long enough now to know when they should go and look for a hiding spot to be safe for the upcoming 'storm.' Oh, and some storm that would be. Now seemed to be exactly one of those utterly terrifying moments, so the poor man didn't know how quick he should get out of the shop to avoid being in the crossfire.

He was just in time, because at that moment, Cid growled, "For the last time, if you don't stop yer constant yellin' _right now _I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna do _what_, old man? Cuss me to death?" the young ninja quipped, giving him a defiant look, as if daring him to say what he had in mind. "Gosh, I'm _almost_ looking forward to that."

She put her hands on her hips and awaited his answer.

For a short moment, it looked as though Cid would explode from all the pent-up anger, but that was when, strangely enough, his features softened and a rather creepy smirk appeared on his face. Yuffie narrowed her eyes suspiciously at that sight. A smirking Cid was never a good sign. He was up to something, that much was sure. But what could that be? Surely, he wasn't sneaky enough to actually try to-

"No... I'm gonna show Leon the letter you wrote for him," was the soft reply.

A moment of silence passed the two stubborn figures. The raven-haired ninja frowned, wondering if all that drinking maybe had killed his brain cells... or that little bit what was left, anyway. She never wrote letters when there was so much action on the streets. Come on! Only people like Aerith did that, because they never stepped outside to fight. Besides, who was she supposed to write? Herself? Aerith, who lived in the same house? Nah, even _she_ wasn't that weird... more or less.

"What letter?" she asked, more curious than suspicious now.

If the guy really thought that he could scare her with something _that_ lame, something that wasn't even _true_ to begin with, then he was really more of a weirdo than she'd thought.

"Oh, you know..."

His blue eyes bored deep into her dark ones, trying to get a reaction out of her. When she couldn't take the silent stares anymore, she exclaimed, "Cid, just _spit it out_, man!"

"Very well, then, brat. I meant your lost letter. The one you wrote to Leon years ago. The _love letter_. I'm gonna tell him if you don't watch out. What do you have to say to that?"

"You still don't make any sense, ya'know. Wh-" she started, but then gasped, as realization hit her with the force of a brick to the face.

Snap, how could she forget about _that_? That letter... Wait, how did Cid get that in the first place? Had he picked it up on the table when he'd gotten home many, many years ago? That could be possible. After all, this man was known as a figure who liked to put his nose in other people's business. Still, it wasn't as bad as the case that was called Merlin, but the meddling was enough to irritate everyone, especially He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-Squall.

"I've had it all this time with me," he told her. "And now it's finally payback time for telling Aerith about my secret liquor stash."

"Where is it?" she demanded, at once looking around, as though it had to be hidden somewhere in his shop, some secret hatch, or something.

Yes, Cid was sneaky like that. She started putting things aside and even looked into the hearth, but without any success.

Cid looked at her actions with a wry expression on his face. "Oh, don't worry. You won't be able to find it in time. I put it in a safe place out of your reach for when Leon gets back. I bet he can't wait to read it as soon as I tell him about it."

The first thought that crossed her was, _That almost sounds like he's put it in his pants. Ew, I'm not going to explore that place. Grossness!_

She gave him a horrified look. "...Y-you wouldn't dare."

If Leon ever read how she'd written that she wished that Rinoa wouldn't be found, that he should stop searching for her... that she was in love with him, her world would end. The thought alone filled her with terror.

"Oh no? Watch me when I read it out to him, then," he taunted. "I'm sure he'll be _pleased_."

As if on cue, the shop's door opened (almost dramatically and in slow-motion) at that moment and the tall brunet, leather-clad swordsman appeared in sight. The last person Yuffie wanted to see at this time. He quickly closed the door behind him, so that the biting cold stayed outside and turned around. Yuffie knew that he had just returned from another journey of trying to find survivors in other worlds that were engulfed in darkness and bringing them to Traverse Town, which had been the home of the refugees for years on end now. It was a task that he'd taken upon himself voluntarily and nobody stopped him. They all knew why he was doing this; the pain, the feeling of being powerless, they had all changed Leon into the man that he was now. This way, he at least had the feeling that he was doing something.

"Ah, speakin' of the devil," Cid exclaimed, earning a suspicious look from the brunet man.

He stood still. Honestly, did he want to know what they had said about him? Probably not, so it was better not to ask. A gossiping Cid was one thing, but when it involved Yuffie, he'd better watch out.

He ran a hand through his glossy brunet locks, trying to ignore the fact that his muscles protested at that simple move. "Hey, Cid. I think you need to take a look at my Gummi Ship. It's been acting weird this whole trip and I have a feeling that the brakes are worn, or something," he spoke up, as soon as he had reached the counter that Cid stood behind. "I hope you have nothing to do with this," he added as an afterthought, giving the hyper teen a meaningful look.

Yuffie huffed, indignantly. "Of course not! Why does everyone always assume it's me whenever something doesn't go right?"

"What can I say. I guess your reputation speaks for itself," was the reply.

Yuffie was about to retort something back, but (fortunately?) she didn't get the chance. "Well, that can wait. I need to tell you something first. Something important," the older male started, giving Yuffie an evil grin. "Trust me, you're going to find this very... _interesting_."

"Oh?" It seemed that this actually caught Leon's interest. The man also didn't fail to notice how Cid's eyes seemed to travel from him to Yuffie every few seconds. He had a bad feeling about this. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, while crossing his arms against his chest. "What is it?"

Meanwhile, Yuffie tried her best not to show how panicked she was starting to get. Drat, she had to do something now to distract that evil man from his goal, otherwise she would never dare to look anyone in the eyes. Especially not Squ- uhm, Leon...

That was when she got an idea. At once, the ninja started searching for a few items in her pockets. She had to be quick, but that was no problem, since she was an epic ninja. Nobody was faster than her. She would show Cid what would happen if one messed with her. The other two figures didn't pay much attention to her anymore.

"So?" Leon asked, lifting a thin brow.

"You're not going to believe this, but the thing is, Y-"

"Uh, Cid..." Leon then started, interrupting Cid, while pointing at something behind him.

The tone of his voice didn't promise any good.

Cid turned around, fearing the worst, and cursed when he saw smoke coming up his way at top speed. "Damn, that brat stink bombed my shop! That's it. She'll pay for this!" the blonde man roared, before climbing over the counter.

But that was of later concern. As of now, he did his best to reach the door before the smoke (and smell, although it was too late for that now) would catch up on him. Unfortunately, both he and Leon miserably failed at that. Yuffie had already fled the place and watched the scene unfold from a nearby rooftop. She snickered. Mission accomplished... but not quite. She had to get that letter before Cid showed it to Leon. The question was, where to look?

* * *

**A/N: And only one chapter left now after this. Then I've finally finished this collection. I'm already working on it, so it shouldn't take me as long as this one did. Also, for the people who hadn't noticed yet; in case you love (the) Hollow Bastion (crew) as much as I do, I've made up a challenge for anyone who's willing to give it a try and/or is suffering from a writers block at the moment. You can find it on my profile, along with the rules tied to it and the responses to the challenge (there really are some brilliant entries between them that make me love the HB crew even more!). Thanks for reading, and for listening to my usual rambling. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. :)**

**Is anyone actually reading this? I feel like I'm talking to a wall now, as Squall would put it so nicely. :P**


	15. Once Upon a Time

**A/N: Yay, the last chapter! This is it. Enjoy. :)**

**Thanks: PrismRain13, KC-Chan13, and M. L. Ayala, my beta reader.**

* * *

~ _Okay, so Leon had _definitely_ read the letter, there was no doubt about that anymore. That _look_ said it all._ ~

* * *

During dinner, Yuffie kept stealing furtive glances at Leon whenever she thought that no one was looking. His face was dangerously unreadable all the time, which made her wonder if he'd read the letter already or not. Honestly, a brick wall showed more emotion than he did. Of course, the fact that his every move was being watched by curious eyes, didn't go unnoticed by the brunet swordsman himself.

Eventually, the man sighed, being tired of her little games.

With an ominous look on his chiseled face, he put down his knife and fork and looked at her, his jaw flexed. "May I ask what's with these weird stares?"

At once, all eyes were on her and she felt how her cheeks started to grow warm at the sudden (and for the very first time _unwanted_) attention. She gulped, not expecting that he would be so... direct about it. Then again, this was _Leon_ they were talking about. Of course he would be direct about things. That was his style.

"What do you mean?" she inquired, quasi innocently.

She couldn't fool Leon with that, though.

"What's gotten into you? Did you spike my drink? Poisoned my food? Because if that's the case..." he threatened.

The nimble ninja started to blush at his words. "No, of course not! I'm a sneaky ninja, not a friggin' cold-blooded murderer!"

As soon as she'd uttered those words, she looked down at her plate again, her lips pressed into a firm line. Okay, so maybe he hadn't read it then, otherwise he would've mentioned _something_ about it, even if he was Leon, right? Besides, he'd always sucked at lying, so she would've seen it in his eyes if he had read the letter. That last thought made her feel more relieved, but not that much. After all, how much time did she have left?

When she heard the scratching of a chair, she looked up again, curious. The silent brunet had gotten up and now walked towards the sink. He calmly washed his empty plate, put it on a rack to let it dry and went straight up to his bedroom. Yuffie hesitated slightly, before stuffing her mouth full with the remains of her food (it would be such a waste to throw that away, right?) While still chewing on her delicious meal (courtesy of Aerith), she got up too and followed him to his room. Aerith sighed when the young ninja left her plate behind on the table, shaking her head.

Meanwhile, the raven-haired teen took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside. As always, she didn't knock first, if only to annoy Leon some more.

"What are _you_ doing here?" was the first thing Leon said to her, after looking up. "Did you need something?"

She let out a nervous laugh when their eyes happened to meet and mentally face-palmed. Well, if he didn't think she was crazy before, he sure did now!

"Oh, you know; I was just checking up on you. See how you're doing and stuff."

The look on his face told her that he didn't believe a word of it. What a surprise. The day he would believe her, she'd know that something was wrong. Well, at least she tried, right?

"Yuffie, you saw me only ten seconds ago," Leon deadpanned.

Oh... right. No wonder he thought it didn't make any sense.

"Well, a lot of things can happen in ten seconds," the girl argued, putting her hands on her hips.

That was when her eyes fell on the yellowed piece of paper in the swordsman's hand. It was slightly crumpled and seemed to be a decade old. As soon as she recognized it, all blood drained from her face and her ears started whizzing.

_Oh god. Stay calm. Don't let him notice that you're screaming in panic..._

"Yuffie... are you alright?" Leon asked slowly, as a light frown appeared on his face. He studied her face for a good moment, but didn't know what to think of it.

_Oh, too late for that..._

She realized that she had to look horrible if he actually asked her that question. After all, Squall never worried about her... or about anyone for that matter.

"Did you... read that?" she asked, her voice quavering.

She needed to know this, but at the same time, Yuffie would rather shut her ears and run out of the room, away from the painful truth. Because what could she do if the answer to that question was 'yes'?

Leon seemed to have noticed the strange tone in her voice and he followed her line of vision. "No, not yet. I was about to start when you decided to barge in like you owned the place."

Any other moment, the raven-haired girl would've taken that as a severe insult, but now... she was kinda distracted. Now that she was sure that he hadn't taken a look at the letter yet, she felt a small twinge of hope. Perhaps she could prevent this whole nightmare just in time.

"That's good. Just throw it away. You shouldn't read this."

Leon raised a thin brow at that. "And why is that?"

"Because... you shouldn't."

It was quiet between them for a moment, until... "That's a very convincing reason." The sarcasm was practically dripping from his voice. "You know, Cid said the exact opposite. According to him, my life would change after I had read this letter and since we all know what happened last time I believed you... I'm going for Cid's side of the story this time."

Yuffie decided to put an end to this. She'd waited long enough. The young ninja rushed forward and tried to snatch the piece of paper out of his hands. As expected, the brunet man swiftly turned his body away from her to prevent her from grabbing the letter. However, in her haste to get the letter, Yuffie fell over something (probably her own legs. For a great ninja, she could be pretty clumsy sometimes). She let out a surprised yelp and couldn't avoid her head slamming against his nightstand. _Hard_.

The last thing she heard, was a rather shocked "Yuffie!" before she lost consciousness and everything went black...

* * *

Yuffie groaned, as she finally gained consciousness again. Damn, her head hurt like hell. No... that was the understatement of the year. It kind of felt like she'd caught a bullet with her skull, or something. Not that she knew how that felt. Thank heavens! If her throat hadn't felt as dry as a desert, she would've started screaming and cussing because of the pain.

She opened her eyes, ever so slowly. The bedside lamp was on, which provided her enough light to look around in the room. Leon's room, that is. The teen blinked as realization hit her; she was lying in Leon's bed...

Surely, the man himself wasn't currently in the room and for the first time in her life, she was glad for that. She had never thought that his bed would feel so... comfortable. She sighed, contented, as she took in her surroundings. The small room was neat. Leon's leather jacket wasn't draped over the chair like usual and the case in which he always kept his Gunblade when he was inside, was empty, too. This meant that he'd gone outside, probably to train in the Secret Waterway, or something. Seriously, that guy was all work and no play. The raven-haired girl doubted if he'd ever had fun in his life. \and every time she would try to give him something to laugh at, he would only snarl at her. It was as though he didn't allow himself some happiness.

At that moment, the bedroom door opened and Aerith stepped in.

The woman smiled when she saw her, before closing the door behind her. "I see you finally woke up?"

"Yeah... How long was I out?" she questioned.

Her voice barely sounded like her own at this point, but she paid no further attention to it.

"Oh, not too long," the elder female replied. "Barely thirty minutes."

"Oh... Where's Leon?"

"I don't know. When I came in a few minutes ago, he rushed out of the room before I could ask him where he was going. He acted a little weird," she replied, thoughtfully.

That last sentence piqued the younger girl's interest and she feared the worst.

She slowly sat upright in her bed and looked at the pink clad woman. "...He did?"

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen him act like that before. He looked a little spooked. If you hadn't been unconscious back then, I would've thought it was because of you..."

As soon as she'd said that, Yuffie shot out of bed and looked around her again. She even startled Aerith with her sudden move. Her emerald green eyes rested on the younger girl, as she seemed to be searching for something. Something told her that Yuffie knew why Leon had behaved so uncharacteristically, but she decided not to press further on the subject, knowing that it would only freak the poor girl out.

Unfortunately for Yuffie, there was no trace of the letter anywhere, not even on the desk. Had Leon gone outside because he'd...

In that case, she was in _deep_ trouble.

"Oh boy. What am I gonna do now?" she muttered, more to herself than to Aerith.

"Yuffie... Is everything alright?"

Aerith's voice brought the Wutaian girl back to reality again.

She shook her head. "I uh... I did something really stupid that was supposed to stay a secret until the day I died... But I think that Leon found out about it, so now I'm screwed."

The fact that all Aerith said was, "Oh. Do you want me to talk to him?" made Yuffie a little suspicious.

It sounded as if she knew about the subject, too.

Nevertheless, she replied with, "No, it's okay. I need to solve this myself this time."

Unfortunately.

"Alright then. If you need me, I'll be in the living room," Aerith spoke, before leaving Leon's room.

* * *

Okay, so Leon had _definitely_ read the letter, there was no doubt about that anymore. That _look_ said it all. The first few days, he'd acted rather weird. Well, weirder than usual. The silent brunet had given her these long, hard, creepy stares that gave her a funny feeling in the stomach. However, he did act nicer to her now, even if it was only a little... Or was that because she was starting to call him Leon more often? Whatever, she'd go with the first one, because that sounded better.

She could sense the small changes, though. At first, whenever she would try to come closer, he'd always back away. That had always been the case, whether it involved a stupid joke (which he never laughed at, by the way), or trying to talk to him about more serious issues (to which he never responded, save for that glare that could melt solid gold). He'd just been out of reach...

But something told her that it wasn't like that now. Not anymore. Something about him had changed, she'd felt it as soon as she'd rested her eyes on him that day after the stink bomb incident at Cid's shop (well, the old guy deserved it, didn't he?). Panic had instantly risen, but the stubborn guy hadn't said anything about the matter and she hadn't asked about it, either. Yuffie had concluded that maybe he was testing her, trying to find out if she still thought the same about him. To be honest, this had surprised her, because the Leon that she knew would actually see this as a good reason to start another fight with her. But he hadn't...

Perhaps it had been a good idea to write that letter years ago, even if she'd never intended to show it to anyone (especially not to him!). Maybe Cid had realized what it would do to Leon once he got to read it. Maybe she should be thankful that the ex-pilot had told him about it.

Drat, now she owed the man. That was honestly the last thing she needed...

"Yuffie!"

The young ninja blinked a couple of times, confusion written all over her face. "Huh?"

It was only then that she noticed how her fighting partner was glaring down at her. She gulped, wondering what she had missed this time. By the looks of it, it was something serious. Oh, now she was really in for it.

"_Focus_. If you keep acting like a lovesi- like you are now, the Heartless will eat you alive before you realize it," Leon chided, coolly.

"Sorry," she muttered, looking down at her shoes.

But what did he expect? How can one concentrate when your training partner is so hot that he sizzles-

"I mean it," he added, warningly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm read- Whaaah!"

She was barely able to block the blow he threw at her, but thankfully, her reflexes were quick enough. Although that didn't stop her from falling backwards and landing hard on the cold floor of the Secret Waterway, on her butt.

"Ow!" She grimaced, rubbing the sore spot.

"So that's what you call 'ready?' How interesting..."

As a reply, Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him. "You're so _mean_!"

"...I thought that's what you liked about me?"

Again, Yuffie blinked dumbfoundedly. That question... what was she supposed to say to _that_? She didn't miss the playful tone in his voice, either. But the question was, was it just a joke, or...?

At once, she felt how heat rose to her cheeks. Meanwhile, Leon made his way to her and extended a gloved hand towards her. She quietly took his hand and let him help her get up.

"Just try to concentrate some more, okay? I won't always be there to watch your back... even though I'm trying to be," he spoke.

_Was that a promise of him to always watch out for me?_

She nodded and stood in a fighting stance once again. This time she would make sure to block him.

Yes, he had changed alright, the raven-haired teen mused. But sometimes, changes weren't that bad. And who knows, maybe some day, he wouldn't just see her as a little sister-figure. Until then, she would wait for him and try to win his heart over by telling more stupid jokes. He did like them, after all, even if he stayed quiet about it. She just knew it by the way the corner of his mouth would quirk upwards. If that wasn't a telltale sign, then she didn't know what was.

* * *

**After years of working on this, it's finally finished. I can hardly believe it myself. Thanks a ton for sticking with me throughout the years and reading this collection till the very end (I know what you're thinking now; c'mon woman, it's only fifteen chapters!). You guys are awesome and I'd like to give you a big hug and virtual cookies for that! :) And of course, I'll never grow tired of writing Squiffies. In fact, I'm working on some ideas for a challenge at the moment, which involves lots of Squiffie entries. :P**

**The reason that I didn't make this one all fluffy was because this takes place near the end of KH1 and Leon only now becomes aware of Yuffie's feelings. My other Squiffie one-shots take place during KH2, including the one in which he actually kisses her. Hope that explains things.**

**REVIEW SHOUT-OUT: celticskyedancer, AreYouStillThere, Anna-sky Valentine Nox, LoreilDarksky100, dannielovessora, KlonoaDreams, NinjaSheik, XxX-SparklingEyes-XxX, BlackButterfly9, The Waterbender, KC-Chan13, and last, but certainly not least, PrismRain13.**


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